The monograph will be dedicated to SRAM (memory) design and test issues in nano-scaled technologies by adapting the cell design and chip design considerations to the growing process variations with associated test issues. Purpose: provide process-aware solutions for SRAM design and test challenges.

The discovery by J. G. Bednorz and K. A. Mtllier in 1986 that the superconducting state can exist in oxides at temperatures above 30 K stimulated research in the field of superconductivity and opened up a new field of research. Within a few years a large number of cuprate superconductors with transition temperatures well above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen have been found. The possibility of using liquid nitrogen as coolant re-stimulated interest in power applications of supercon ductivity. In this book an overview of the known high-Te superconductors and their physical properties is presented. Aspects related to conductor fabrication and high-current applications are emphasised. The material should be suitable for use in graduate level courses on superconductivity. Researchers in the field may profit from the large number of tables and references describing its status at the end of 1997. An introduction to high-To superconductivity must be based on the fundamental physical principles of normal-state electrical conductivity and the well-known characteristics of conventional superconductors. In Chapter 2 this background is provided. Crystal structures, anisotropic properties and general trends of the critical temperatures of the cuprate superconductors are described in Chapters 3 and 4. The processing of superconductor powders addressed in Chapter 5 affects considerably the current-carrying capacity of high-T. wires. In Chapter 6 several fabrication techniques for superconducting wires are described. In addition, the factors limiting the transport critical currents ofhigh-Te wires are discussed."

Epitaxial growth lies at the heart of a wide range of industrial and technological applications. Recent breakthroughs, experimental and theoretical, allow actual atom-by-atom manipulation and an understanding of such processes, opening up a totally new area of unprecedented nanostructuring.

The contributions to Atomistic Aspects of Epitaxial Growth are divided into five main sections, taking the reader from the atomistic details of surface diffusion to the macroscopic description of epitaxial systems. many of the papers contain substantial background material on theoretical and experimental methods, making the book suitable for both graduate students as a supplementary text in a course on epitaxial phenomena, and for professionals in the field.

The 2008 Spring Meeting of the Arbeitskreis Festkorperphysik was held in Berlin, Germany, between February 24 and February 29, 2008 in conjunction with the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The 2008 meeting was the largest physics meeting in Europe and among the largest physics meetings in the world in 2008."

Thanks to the advance of semiconductor and communication technology, the wireless communication market has been booming in the last two decades. It evolved from simple pagers to emerging third-generation (3G) cellular phones. In the meanwhile, broadband communication market has also gained a rapid growth. As the market always demands hi- performance and low-cost products, circuit designers are seeking hi- integration communication devices in cheap CMOS technology. The phase-locked loop frequency synthesizer is a critical component in communication devices. It works as a local oscillator for frequency translation and channel selection in wireless transceivers and broadband cable tuners. It also plays an important role as the clock synthesizer for data converters in the analog-and-digital signal interface. This book covers the design and analysis of PLL synthesizers. It includes both fundamentals and a review of the state-of-the-art techniques. The transient analysis of the third-order charge-pump PLL reveals its locking behavior accurately. The behavioral-level simulation of PLL further clarifies its stability limit. Design examples are given to clearly illustrate the design procedure of PLL synthesizers. A complete derivation of reference spurs in the charge-pump PLL is also presented in this book. The in-depth investigation of the digital CA modulator for fractional-N synthesizers provides insightful design guidelines for this important block.

Defects in semiconductors have been studied for many years, in many cases with a view toward controlling their behaviour through various forms of "defect engineering." For example, in the bulk, charging significantly affects the total concentration of defects that are available to mediate phenomena such as solid-state diffusion. Surface defects play an important role in mediating surface mass transport during high temperature processing steps such as epitaxial film deposition, diffusional smoothing in reflow, and nanostructure formation in memory device fabrication. "Charged Defects in Semiconductors" details the current state of knowledge regarding the properties of the ionized defects that can affect the behaviour of advanced transistors, photo-active devices, catalysts, and sensors. Features: group IV, III-V, and oxide semiconductors; intrinsic and extrinsic defects; and, point defects, as well as defect pairs, complexes and clusters.

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date description of the Josephson effect, a topic of never-ending interest in both fundamental and applied physics. In this volume, world-renowned experts present the unique aspects of the physics of the Josephson effect, resulting from the use of new materials, of hybrid architectures and from the possibility of realizing nanoscale junctions. These new experimental capabilities lead to systems where novel coherent phenomena and transport processes emerge. All this is of great relevance and impact, especially when combined with the didactic approach of the book. The reader will benefit from a general and modern view of coherent phenomena in weakly-coupled superconductors on a macroscopic scale. Topics that have been only recently discussed in specialized papers and in short reviews are described here for the first time and organized in a general framework. An important section of the book is also devoted to applications, with focus on long-term, future applications. In addition to a significant number of illustrations, the book includes numerous tables for comparative studies on technical aspects.

A review of the electrical properties, performance and physical mechanisms of the main silicon-on-insulator (SOI) materials and devices. Particular attention is paid to the reliability of SOI structures operating in harsh conditions. The first part of the book deals with material technology and describes the SIMOX and ELTRAN technologies, the smart-cut technique, SiCOI structures and MBE growth. The second part covers reliability of devices operating under extreme conditions, with an examination of low and high temperature operation of deep submicron MOSFETs and novel SOI technologies and circuits, SOI in harsh environments and the properties of the buried oxide. The third part deals with the characterization of advanced SOI materials and devices, covering laser-recrystallized SOI layers, ultrashort SOI MOSFETs and nanostructures, gated diodes and SOI devices produced by a variety of techniques. The last part reviews future prospects for SOI structures, analyzing wafer bonding techniques, applications of oxidized porous silicon, semi-insulating silicon materials, self-organization of silicon dots and wires on SOI and some new physical phenomena.

This book describes the design of a receiver front-end circuit for operation in the 60GHz range in 90nm CMOS. Physical layout of the test circuit and post-layout simulations for the implementation of a test chip including the QVCO and the first stage divider are also presented. The content of this book is particularly of interest to those working on mm-wave frequency generation and signal reception.

Regular Nanofabrics in Emerging Technologies gives a deep insight into both fabrication and design aspects of emerging semiconductor technologies, that represent potential candidates for the post-CMOS era. Its approach is unique, across different fields, and it offers a synergetic view for a public of different communities ranging from technologists, to circuit designers, and computer scientists. The book presents two technologies as potential candidates for future semiconductor devices and systems and it shows how fabrication issues can be addressed at the design level and vice versa. The reader either for academic or research purposes will find novel material that is explained carefully for both experts and non-initiated readers. Regular Nanofabrics in Emerging Technologies is a survey of post-CMOS technologies. It explains processing, circuit and system level design for people with various backgrounds.

This comprehensive book reports on recent investigations of lattice imperfections in semiconductors by means of positron annihilation. It reviews positron techniques, and describes the application of these techniques to various kinds of defects, such as vacancies, impurity vacancy complexes and dislocations.

This thesis presents an experimental study of ordering phenomena in rare-earth nickelate-based heterostructures by means of inelastic Raman light scattering and elastic resonant x-ray scattering (RXS). Further, it demonstrates that the amplitude ratio of magnetic moments at neighboring nickel sites can be accurately determined by RXS in combination with a correlated double cluster model, and controlled experimentally through structural pinning of the oxygen positions in the crystal lattice. The two key outcomes of the thesis are: (a) demonstrating full control over the charge/bond and spin order parameters in specifically designed praseodymium nickelate heterostructures and observation of a novel spin density wave phase in absence of the charge/bond order parameter, which confirms theoretical predictions of a spin density wave phase driven by spatial confinement of the conduction electrons; and (b) assessing the thickness-induced crossover between collinear and non-collinear spin structures in neodymium nickelate slabs, which is correctly predicted by drawing on density functional theory.

The purpose of this book is to review the current state of this quickly developing field. Up until now, there has been no concise review available of the rather diverse aspects of this field. This book gives a basic introduction to the concepts behind Bloch oscillations. It describes how the physics of high field transport has been investigated through a broad range of experimental techniques such as interband and intraband optical spectroscopy and transport experiments. Possible applications and further trends are also discussed.

Ferroelectric thin films continue to attract much attention due to their developing applications in memory devices, FeRAM, infrared sensors, piezoelectric sensors and actuators. This book, aimed at students, researchers and developers, gives detailed information about the basic properties of these materials and the associated device physics. The contributing authors are acknowledged experts in the field.

This book offers a new approach to the long-standing problem of high-Tc copper-oxide superconductors. It has been demonstrated that starting from a strongly correlated Hamiltonian, even within the mean-field regime, the "competing orders" revealed by experiments can be achieved using numerical calculations. In the introduction, readers will find a brief review of the high-Tc problem and the unique challenges it poses, as well as a comparatively simple numerical approach, the renormalized mean-field theory (RMFT), which provides rich results detailed in the following chapters. With an additional phase picked up by the original Hamiltonian, some behaviors of interactive fermions under an external magnetic field, which have since been experimentally observed using cold atom techniques, are also highlighted.

This book deals with optical properties of semiconductors at extremely short (pico- and femtosecond) time scales. The contributions, by an international roster of researchers, cover current research on a wide array of topics.Topics covered include: 1. Coherent Dynamics of Photoexcited Semiconductor Superlattices with Applied Homogeneous Electric Fields (Koch,Meier,Thomas) 2. Ultrafast non-equilibrium dynamics of intersubband excitations in quasi two dimensional semiconductors (Elsaesser,Woerner MPI Berlin) 3. Bloch-Oscillations in Semiconductors: Principles and Applications (Leo, TU Dresden) 4. Electron-velocity overshoot, electron ballistic transport and nonequilibrium phonon dynamics in nanostructure semiconductors (Tsen, Arizona State) 5. Coherent Control of Photocurrents in Semiconductors (Van Driel,Sipe U Toronto ) 6. Ensemble Monte Carlo Simulations of Ultrafast Phenomena in Semiconductors (Ferry & Goodnick, Arizona State) 7. Theory of Coherent Phonon Oscillations in Bulk GaAs (Stanton & Kuznetsov, U Florida) 8.Coherent Spectroscopy on Quantum Wires (Forchel, Bayer, & Bacher, U Wuerzburg) 9. The Vectorial Dynamics of Coherent Emission from Excitions (Smirl, U Iowa)

Strain Effect in Semiconductors: Theory and Device Applications presents the fundamentals and applications of strain in semiconductors and semiconductor devices that is relevant for strain-enhanced advanced CMOS technology and strain-based piezoresistive MEMS transducers. Discusses relevant applications of strain while also focusing on the fundamental physics pertaining to bulk, planar, and scaled nano-devices. Hence, this book is relevant for current strained Si logic technology as well as for understanding the physics and scaling for future strained nano-scale devices.

This book mainly focuses on the study of the high-temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+ (Bi2212) and single-layer FeSe film grown on SrTiO3 (STO) substrate by means of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). It provides the first electronic evidence for the origin of the anomalous high-temperature superconductivity in single-layer FeSe grown on SrTiO3 substrate. Two coexisted sharp-mode couplings have been identified in superconducting Bi2212. The first ARPES study on single-layer FeSe/STO films has provided key insights into the electronic origin of superconductivity in this system. A phase diagram and electronic indication of high Tc and insulator to superconductor crossover have been established in the single-layer FeSe/STO films. Readers will find essential information on the techniques used and interesting physical phenomena observed by ARPES.

Thisvolumereportsthemajorpartofthescientificcontributionsofthefirstinternational workshoponSuperconductingNano-ElectronicsDevices(SNED)heldinNapoli,Italy,at theendofMay2001. Theaimoftheworkshopwastofocusonrecentexperimentalandtheoreticalresultsin thefieldofsuperconductingnano-electronicsdevices. Itcombinedphysicswithpresent andfuturetechnologicalapplications:bothfundamentalandappliedaspectswerecovered. SpecialemphasiswasgiventoquantumcoherenceandcomputationusingsmallJosephson junctions,noiseinultrasensitivenanodevicesandpossibilitiesofmakinguseofsupercon- ductivityinvariouson-chipdevices. Withtheseattributesandwithrecognizedinvited speakersintheirspecialtiestheworkshopmanagedtobringtogetheracollectionof scientistsfromnearbybutdistinctresearchcommunities. Thiswaytheatmosphereofthe workshopbecameveryopenanddiscussionswerelivelybothduringandoutsidethe sessions. Thisfreshdiscussionhopefullygaveeveryparticipantalotofnewideasfor furtherworkbackintheirhomeinstitutes. OneofthecentraltopicsintheworkshopwastheuseofdifferentJosephsonjunction configurationsasimplementationsofquantumbits. Atthetimeoftheworkshopwewere justwaitingforthesecondwaveofbreakthroughsinthisfield:theresultsemergingfrom theparticipatinglaboratoriesoftheworkshopjustatthetimeofthewritingofthispreface perhapsalsoprovetheusefulnessofourworkshop. Anotherfocuswasonvarioustopicsrelatedtoultrasensativedetectors. Theybring quantumlimitationstoapplications,andmanydeviceconceptsareresultsofunderstanding fundamentalandexcitingphenomenainsuperconductivity. Noiseandon-chipcooling wereexplicitlydiscussedinthedetectorsessionsaswell. ThechoiceofthelocationrecognizestheroleandthetraditionsofNapoliespeciallyin thefieldofmacroscopicquantumcoherence,oneofthemainissuesoftheworkshop. It furtherguaranteedtheparticipantsastimulatingatmosphereatthemeeting. Inconclusion,wewishtothanktheIstitutoItalianopergliStudiFilosofici,theIstituto diCiberneticadelConsiglioNazionaledelleRicerche,theUniversityofJyviiskylii,the IstitutoNazionalediFisicaNucleare,theIstitutoNazionalediFisicadellaMateria,the DipartimentoScienzeFisiche,andtheRettoratodell'UniversitadiNapoli"FedericoII" fortheirsupport. ThanksarealsoduetoAirLiquide,CRY,Nanoway,OxfordInstruments, andRaith. ThisinitiativeisintheframeoftheinternationalactivityofMQC2Association on"MacroscopicQuantumCoherenceandComputing. "WeareindebtedtoC. Granata v vi PREFACE and V. Coratoforscientificassistance,andtoF. Caiazzo,E. DeGrazia,andA. M. Mazzarellafortheirvaluableassistanceinallthetasksconnectedtotheorganizationofthe Workshop. WearealsogratefultoL. Longobardi,A. Monaco,S. Piscitelli,andS. Rombetto forhintsandhelpduringtheWorkshop. ThanksareduetoL. DeFelice,S. Luongo,and V. Sindonifortheorganizationofthesocialevent. J. Pekola B. Ruggiero P. Silvestrini CONTENTS QuantumNondemolitionMeasurementsofaQubit . D. V. Averin BayesianQuantumMeasurementofaSingle-Cooper-PairQubit 11 A. Korotkov lIfNoiseinJosephsonQubits 15 E. Paladino, L. Faoro,G. Falci,and R. Fazio SwitchingCurrentsandQuasi-ParticlePoisoningintheSuperconducting SingleElectronTransistor 25 P. Agren,J. Walter,V. Sch611mann,andD. B. Haviland JosephsonSystemsforQuantumCoherenceExperiments 33 V. Corato,C. Granata, L. Longobardi,M. Russo,B. Ruggiero, andP. Silvestrini SolidStateAnalogueofDoubleSlitInterferometer...43 K. Yu. Arutyunov, T. T. Hongisto,andJ. P. Pekola NoiseandMicrowavePropertiesofSET-Transistors...53 M. Ejrnres,M. T. Savolainen,andJ. Mygind UseofSmallThnnelJunctionsOperatingatT=0. 3K 63 R. Leoni,M. G. Castellano,F. Chiarello,andG. Torrioli AHystericSingleCooperPairTransistorforSingleShotReadingof 73 aCharge-Qubit A. Cottet,D. Vion,P. Joyez,D. Esteve,andM. H. Devoret SingleCooperPairElectrometerBasedonaRadio-Frequency-SQUID Scheme 87 A. B. Zorin vii viii CONTENTS PossibilityofSingle-ElectronDevicesandSuperconductingCoherence 97 Yu. A. Pashkin, Y. Nakamura,T. Yamamoto,andJ. S. Tsai Frequency-LockedCurrentofCooperPairsinSuperconductingSingle ElectronTransistorwithOhmicResistor...105 S. V. Lotkhov,S. A. Bogoslovsky, A. B. Zorin,andJ. Niemeyer SetupforExperimentsontheSupercurrent-PhaseRelationinBloch Transistors-StatusandPossibleApplications 115 M. Gotz, V. V. Khanin, A. B. Zorin,E. Il'ichev,S. A. Bogoslovsky, andJ. Niemeyer Single-ElectronTransistorsintheRegimeofHighConductance...123 C. Wallisser,B;Limblach,P. yomStein,and R. Schiifer SuperconductingTransistor-EdgeSensorsforTime&EnergyResolved Single-PhotonCountersandforDarkMatterSearches 133 B. Cabrera OptimizationoftheHot-ElectronBolometerandaCascadeQuasiparticle 145 L. Kuzrnin NoiseinRefrigeratingTunnelJunctionsandinMicrobolometers...153 D. V. Anghel NonequilibriumQuasiparticlesandElectronCoolingbyNormalMetal- SuperconductorTunnelJunctions...165 D. Golubevand A. Vasenko MesoscopicJosephsonJunctionsCoupledtoWeakCoherentFields: AnExampleofReciprocalDetection 175 R. Miglioreand A. Messina DynamicsofSuperconductingInterferometersContainingPi-Junctions 183 V. K. Kornev, I. I. Soloviev, I. V. Borisenko,P. B. Mozhaev, andG. A.

When basic researchers started working on semiconductors during the late nineteen thirties and on integrated circuits at the end of the nineteen fifties, they did not know that their work would change the lives of future generations. Very few people at that time recognized the significance of, perhaps, the most important invention of the century. Historians have assigned the invention of integrated circuits to Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce. In this book, the author argues that the group of inventors was much larger. This richly illustrated account is a personal recollection of the development of integrated circuits and personalities a" such as Russell Ohl, Karl Lark-Horovitz, William Shockley, Carl Frosch, Lincoln Derick, Calvin Fuller, Kurt Lehovec. Jean Hoerni, Sheldon Roberts, Jay Last, Isy Haas, Bob Norman, Dave Allison, Jim Nall, Tom Longo, Bob Widlar, Dave Talbert, Frank Wanlass, and Federico Faggin. Here is the first comprehensive behind-the-scenes account of the history of the integrated circuit, the microelectronics industry, and the people closely involved in the development of the transistor and the integrated circuit.

"Your book is going to make a major contribution to semiconductor history. You and I agree that, while the world loves a hero, semiconductor progress depended on the efforts and ideas of a large number of people, and that moving forward depended on contributors going back a few decades in some cases. Also, as is the case with most inventions, a number of people with access to the same pool of common knowledge were working independently at the same time to put it all together and to make the necessary extensions to the existing technology and whorealized that the time was right for society to accept the new concepts. Your diligent research points all of this out."

Dr. Jay Last, Former Shockley Laboratories employee, co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor, co-founder of Amelco Semiconductor, and manager of Fairchilda (TM)s group which designed and produced the world first planar integrated circuit.

"Bo Lojek presents a remarkable document of the most important and significant technical development of our times. He describes in astounding detail the engineering efforts of modern microelectronics. He concentrates on the history of silicon semiconductor devices. Californiaa (TM)s "Silicon Valley" is the center of attention, together with its ancestry of transistor invention at Bell Laboratories. He has collected a wealth of illustrative documentation, gives incisive insight into the lives of the main actors and shows the often tragic fates of the engineers and businessmen. He does not hide his firm belief in the individual engineer and warns of the retarding influence of present-day political correctness."

Dr. Hans J. Queisser, Former Shockley Semiconductor scientist and retired director of the Max-Planck-Institute for Solids, Stuttgart, Germany.

"The technical history of the semiconductor history rivals the 1849 California Gold Rush as a period filled with excitement and opportunity. Although I cannot first hand validate its complete accuracy, I enthusiastically encourage you to read the collected facts, opinions, and views of an author who was actually part of this amazing period, viewing it as a successful practicing Engineer during this "gold rush" - like hey-day of the semiconductor industry.

For educators andtechnologists you will find this collection of data, facts, and opinions, collected and observed first hand by the author, fascinating! It is a tough read for others due to the writing experience of the author and its technical focus."

John F. Gifford, Former Fairchild Semiconductor Marketing Manager of Linear Integrated Circuits, co-founder of Advanced Micro Devices, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Maxim Integrated Products.

"Bo Lojek gets it right! There are few industries as dynamic as semiconductors and the history of the semiconductor industry is still unfolding. This book gives the history of people, places and technology that resulted in todaya (TM)s semiconductor industry. I particularly like the inclusion of many technical pieces in the book."

Robert Dobkin, Former National Semiconductor Director of Advanced Circuit Development and co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Linear Technology Corporation.

The major thrust of this book is the realisation of an all optical computer. To that end it discusses optoelectronic devices and applications, transmission systems, integrated optoelectronic systems and, of course, all optical computers. The chapters on heterostructure light emitting devices' quantum well carrier transport optoelectronic devices' present the most recent advances in device physics, together with modern devices and their applications. The chapter on microcavity lasers' is essential to the discussion of present and future developments in solid-state laser physics and technology and puts into perspective the present state of research into and the technology of optoelectronic devices, within the context of their use in advanced systems. A significant part of the book deals with problems of propagation in quantum structures. soliton-based switching, gating and transmission systems' presents the basics of controlling the propagation of photons in solids and the use of this control in devices. The chapters on optoelectronic processing using smart pixels' and all optical computers' are preceded by introductory material in fundamentals of quantum structures for optoelectronic devices and systems' and linear and nonlinear absorption and reflection in quantum well structures'. It is clear that new architectures will be necessary if we are to fully utilise the potentiality of electrooptic devices in computing, but even current architectures and structures demonstrate the feasibility of the all optical computer: one that is possible today.

Significant experimental work is devoted to the preparation of one and zero dimensional semiconductor structures in view of future electronic and optical devices which involve quantum effects. The aim is good control in the realisation of nanometer structures both in vertical and lateral direction. Conventional processing techniques based on lithography face inherent problems such as limited resolution and surface defects caused by reactive ion etching. During the last few years several research groups started working on direct syntheses of semiconductor nanostructures by combining epitaxial growth techniques such as molecular beam epitaxy and chemical vapour deposition with pre patterning of the substrate wafers. Another idea is based on island formation in strained layer heteroepitaxy. Zero and one dimensional structures with dimensions down to a few atomic distances have been realised this way. An important point is that the size of the quantum structures is controlled within the epitaxial deposition in a self-adjusting process. The main subjects of the book are: Theoretical aspects of epitaxial growth, selfassembling nanostructures and cluster formation, epitaxial growth in tilted and non-(001) surfaces, cleaved edge overgrowth, nanostructure growth on patterned silicon substrates, nanostructures prepared by selective area epitaxy or growth on patterned substrates, in-situ etching and device applications based on epitaxial regrowth on patterned substrates. The experimental work mainly concentrated on GaAs/A1GaAs, GaAs/InGaAs, InGaP/InP and Si/SiGe based semiconductor heterostructures. Growth related problems received special attention. The different concepts for preparation of low dimensional structures are presented to allow direct comparison and to identify new concepts for future research work.

This book describes semiconductors from a materials science perspective rather than from condensed matter physics or electrical engineering viewpoints. It includes discussion of current approaches to organic materials for electronic devices. It further describes the fundamental aspects of thin film nucleation and growth, and the most common physical and chemical vapor deposition techniques. Examples of the application of the concepts in each chapter to specific problems or situations are included, along with recommended readings and homework problems.

In this book, the author theoretically studies two aspects of topological states. First, novel states arising from hybridizing surface states of topological insulators are theoretically introduced. As a remarkable example, the author shows the existence of gapless interface states at the interface between two different topological insulators, which belong to the same topological phase. While such interface states are usually gapped due to hybridization, the author proves that the interface states are in fact gapless when the two topological insulators have opposite chiralities. This is the first time that gapless topological novel interface states protected by mirror symmetry have been proposed. Second, the author studies the Weyl semimetal phase in thin topological insulators subjected to a magnetic field. This Weyl semimetal phase possesses edge states showing abnormal dispersion, which is not observed without mirror symmetry. The author explains that the edge states gain a finite velocity by a particular form of inversion symmetry breaking, which makes it possible to observe the phenomenon by means of electric conductivity.

During the last 25 years (after the growth of the first pseudomorphic GeSi strained layers on Si by Erich Kasper in Germany) we have seen a steady accu- mulation of new materials and devices with enhanced performance made pos- sible by strain. 1989-1999 have been very good years for the strained-Iayer- devices. Several breakthroughs were made in the growth and doping technology of strained layers. New devices were fabricated as a results of these break- throughs. Before the advent of strain layer epitaxy short wavelength (violet to green) and mid-IR (2 to 5 f. Lm) regions of the spectrum were not accessi- ble to the photonic devices. Short wavelength Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and Laser Diodes (LDs) have now been developed using III-Nitride and II-VI strained layers. Auger recombination increases rapidly as the bandgap narrows and temperature increases. Therefore it was difficult to develop mid-IR (2 to 5 f. Lm range) lasers. The effect of strain in modifying the band-structure and suppressing the Auger recombination has been most spectacular. It is due to the strain mediated band-structure engineering that mid-IR lasers with good per- formance have been fabricated in several laboratories around the world. Many devices based on strained layers have reached the market place. This book de- scribes recent work on the growth, characterization and properties o(compound semiconductors strained layers and devices fabricated using them.