This book presents the latest results of quantum properties of light in the nanostructured environment supporting surface plasmons, including waveguide quantum electrodynamics, quantum emitters, strong-coupling phenomena and lasing in plasmonic structures. Different approaches are described for controlling the emission and propagation of light with extreme light confinement and field enhancement provided by surface plasmons. Recent progress is reviewed in both experimental and theoretical investigations within quantum plasmonics, elucidating the fundamental physical phenomena involved and discussing the realization of quantum-controlled devices, including single-photon sources, transistors and ultra-compact circuitry at the nanoscale.

This thesis provides a detailed introduction to quantum oscillation measurement and analysis and offers a connection between Fermi surface properties and superconductivity in high-temperature superconductors. It also discusses the field of iron-based superconductors and tests the models for the appearance of nodes in the superconducting gap of a 111-type pnictide using quantum oscillation measurements combined with band structure calculation. The same measurements were carried out to determine the quasiparticle mass in BaFe2(As1-xPx)2, which is strongly enhanced at the expected quantum critical point. While the lower superconducting critical field shows evidence of quantum criticality, the upper superconducting critical field is not influenced by the quantum critical point. These findings contradict conventional theories, demonstrating the need for a theoretical treatment of quantum critical superconductors, which has not been addressed to date. The quest to discover similar evidence in the cuprates calls for the application of extreme conditions. As such, quantum oscillation measurements were performed under high pressure in a high magnetic field, revealing a negative correlation between quasiparticle mass and superconducting critical temperature.

This book demonstrates how to use the Synopsys Sentaurus TCAD 2014 version for the design and simulation of 3D CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) semiconductor nanoelectronic devices, while also providing selected source codes (Technology Computer-Aided Design, TCAD). Instead of the built-in examples of Sentaurus TCAD 2014, the practical cases presented here, based on years of teaching and research experience, are used to interpret and analyze simulation results of the physical and electrical properties of designed 3D CMOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) nanoelectronic devices. The book also addresses in detail the fundamental theory of advanced semiconductor device design for the further simulation and analysis of electric and physical properties of semiconductor devices. The design and simulation technologies for nano-semiconductor devices explored here are more practical in nature and representative of the semiconductor industry, and as such can promote the development of pioneering semiconductor devices, semiconductor device physics, and more practically-oriented approaches to teaching and learning semiconductor engineering. The book can be used for graduate and senior undergraduate students alike, while also offering a reference guide for engineers and experts in the semiconductor industry. Readers are expected to have some preliminary knowledge of the field.

This thesis examines the unique properties of gallium arsenide (GaAs)-based quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifiers for optical communication networks, introducing readers to their fundamentals, basic parameters and manifold applications. The static and dynamic properties of these amplifiers are discussed extensively in comparison to conventional, non quantum-dot based amplifiers, and their unique advantages are elaborated on, such as the fast carrier dynamics and the decoupling of gain and phase dynamics. In addition to diverse amplification scenarios involving single and multiple high symbol rate amplitude and phase-coded data signals, wide-range wavelength conversion as a key functionality for optical signal processing is investigated and discussed in detail. Furthermore, two novel device concepts are developed and demonstrated that have the potential to significantly simplify network architectures, reducing the investment and maintenance costs as well as the energy consumption of future networks.

This book describes the fascinating recent advances made concerning the chaos, stability and instability of semiconductor lasers, and discusses their applications and future prospects in detail. It emphasizes the dynamics in semiconductor lasers by optical and electronic feedback, optical injection, and injection current modulation. Applications of semiconductor laser chaos, control and noise, and semiconductor lasers are also demonstrated. Semiconductor lasers with new structures, such as vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and broad-area semiconductor lasers, are intriguing and promising devices. Current topics include fast physical number generation using chaotic semiconductor lasers for secure communication, development of chaos, quantum-dot semiconductor lasers and quantum-cascade semiconductor lasers, and vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. This fourth edition has been significantly expanded to reflect the latest developments. The fundamental theory of laser chaos and the chaotic dynamics in semiconductor lasers are discussed, but also for example the method of self-mixing interferometry in quantum-cascade lasers, which is indispensable in practical applications. Further, this edition covers chaos synchronization between two lasers and the application to secure optical communications. Another new topic is the consistency and synchronization property of many coupled semiconductor lasers in connection with the analogy of the dynamics between synaptic neurons and chaotic semiconductor lasers, which are compatible nonlinear dynamic elements. In particular, zero-lag synchronization between distant neurons plays a crucial role for information processing in the brain. Lastly, the book presents an application of the consistency and synchronization property in chaotic semiconductor lasers, namely a type of neuro-inspired information processing referred to as reservoir computing.

This book presents research dedicated to solving scientific and technological problems in many areas of electronics, photonics and renewable energy. Energy and information are interconnected and are essential elements for the development of human society. Transmission, processing and storage of information requires energy consumption, while the efficient use and access to new energy sources requires new information (ideas and expertise) and the design of novel systems such as photovoltaic devices, fuel cells and batteries. Semiconductor physics creates the knowledge base for the development of information (computers, cell phones, etc.) and energy (photovoltaic) technologies. The exchange of ideas and expertise between these two technologies is critical and expands beyond semiconductors. Continued progress in information and renewable energy technologies requires miniaturization of devices and reduction of costs, energy and material consumption. The latest generation of electronic devices is now approaching nanometer scale dimensions, new materials are being introduced into electronics manufacturing at an unprecedented rate, and alternative technologies to mainstream CMOS are evolving. Nanotechnology is widely accepted as a source of potential solutions in securing future progress for information and energy technologies. Semiconductor Nanotechnology features chapters that cover the following areas: atomic scale materials design, bio- and molecular electronics, high frequency electronics, fabrication of nanodevices, magnetic materials and spintronics, materials and processes for integrated and subwave optoelectronics, nanoCMOS, new materials for FETs and other devices, nanoelectronics system architecture, nano optics and lasers, non-silicon materials and devices, chemical and biosensors, quantum effects in devices, nano science and technology applications in the development of novel solar energy devices, and fuel cells and batteries.

This book provides a comprehensive summary of nanowire research in the past decade, from the nanowire synthesis, characterization, assembly, to the device applications. In particular, the developments of complex/modulated nanowire structures, the assembly of hierarchical nanowire arrays, and the applications in the fields of nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, quantum devices, nano-enabled energy, and nano-bio interfaces, are focused. Moreover, novel nanowire building blocks for the future/emerging nanoscience and nanotechnology are also discussed.Semiconducting nanowires represent one of the most interesting research directions in nanoscience and nanotechnology, with capabilities of realizing structural and functional complexity through rational design and synthesis. The exquisite control of chemical composition, morphology, structure, doping and assembly, as well as incorporation with other materials, offer a variety of nanoscale building blocks with unique properties.

This book explores the conversion for solar energy into renewable liquid fuels through electrochemical reactions. The first section of the book is devoted to the theoretical fundamentals of solar fuels production, focusing on the surface properties of semiconductor materials in contact with aqueous solutions and the reaction mechanisms. The second section describes a collection of current, relevant characterization techniques, which provide essential information of the band structure of the semiconductors and carrier dynamics at the interface semiconductor. The third, and last section comprises the most recent developments in materials and engineered structures to optimize the performance of solar-to-fuel conversion devices.

This thesis explores thermal transport in selected rare-earth-based intermetallic compounds to answer questions of great current interest. It also sheds light on the interplay of Kondo physics and Fermi surface changes. By performing thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity measurements at temperatures as low as 25mK, the author demonstrates that the Wiedemann-Franz law, a cornerstone of metal physics, is violated at precisely the magnetic-field-induced quantum critical point of the heavy-fermion metal YbRh2Si2. This first-ever observation of a violation has dramatic consequences, as it implies a breakdown of the quasiparticle picture. Utilizing an innovative technique to measure low-temperature thermal transport isothermally as a function of the magnetic field, the thesis interprets specific, partly newly discovered, high-field transitions in CeRu2Si2 and YbRh2Si2 as Lifshitz transitions related to a change in the Fermi surface. Lastly, by applying this new technique to thermal conductivity measurements of the skutterudite superconductor LaPt4Ge12, the thesis proves that the system is a conventional superconductor with a single energy gap. Thus, it refutes the widespread speculations about unconventional Cooper pairing in this material.

This thesis sheds important new light on the puzzling properties of Strontium Ruthenate. Using a sophisticated weak-coupling approach, exact within certain limits, it shows that proper treatment of spin-orbit and multi-band effects is crucial to the physics. Based on the results of these calculations, it resolves a crucial, long-standing puzzle in the field: It demonstrates why the experimentally observed time-reversal breaking is not incompatible with the observed lack of measurable edge currents. Lastly, the thesis makes predictions for the properties of the material under uniaxial strain, which are in good agreement with recent experiments -resolving the mystery of the so-called 3K phase, and suggesting the intriguing possibility that under strain the superconductor may become conventional.

This thesis introduces readers to the type II superstring theories in the AdS5xS5 and AdS4xCP3 backgrounds. Each chapter exemplifies a different computational approach to measuring observables (conformal dimensions of single-trace operators and expectation values of Wilson loop operators) relevant for two supersymmetric theories: the N=4 super Yang-Mills theory and the N=6 Chern-Simons-matter (ABJM) theory. Perturbative techniques have traditionally been used to make quantitative predictions in quantum field theories, but they are only reliable as long as the interaction strengths are weak. The anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence realizes physicists' dream of studying strongly coupled quantum field theories with "enhanced" symmetries, using the methods provided by string theory. The first part of the thesis sets up the semiclassical quantization of worldsheet sigma-model actions around string solutions of least area in AdS space. This machinery is used to capture quantum corrections at large coupling to next-to-leading and next-to-next-to-leading order by solving the determinants of partial differential operators and by computing Feynman diagrams, respectively. In turn, the second part presents an innovative approach based on Monte Carlo simulations to finite coupling for a lattice-discretized model of the AdS5xS5 superstring action. The thesis focuses on fundamental aspects, as well as on applications previously published by the author, and offers a valuable reference work for anyone interested in the most recent developments in this field.

This book proposes a thorough introduction for a varied audience. The reader will master London theory and the Pippard equations, and go on to understand type I and type II superconductors (their thermodynamics, magnetic properties, vortex dynamics, current transport...), Cooper pairs and the results of BCS theory. By studying coherence and flux quantization he or she will be lead to the Josephson effect which, with the SQUID, is a good example of the applications. The reader can make up for any gaps in his knowledge with the use of the appendices, follow the logic behind each model, and assimilate completely the underlying concepts. Approximately 250 illustrations help in developing a thorough understanding. This volume is aimed towards masters and doctoral students, as well as advanced undergraduates, teachers and researchers at all levels coming from a broad range of subjects (chemistry, physics, mechanical and electrical engineering, materials science...). Engineers working in industry will have a useful introduction to other more applied or specialized material. Philippe Mangin is emeritus professor of physics at Mines Nancy Graduate School of Science, Engineering and Management of the University of Lorraine, and researcher at the Jean Lamour Institute in France. He is the former director of both the French neutron scattering facility, Leon Brillouin Laboratory in Orsay, and the Material Physics Laboratory in Nancy, and has taught superconductivity to a broad audience, in particular to engineering students. Remi Kahn is a retired senior research scientist of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA-Saclay). He worked at the Leon Brillouin Laboratory and was in charge of the experimental areas of INB 101 (the Orphee research reactor). This work responded to the need to bring an accessible account suitable for a wide spectrum of scientists and engineers.

This book is dedicated to the new two-dimensional one-atomic-layer-thick materials such as graphene, metallic chalcogenides, silicene and other 2D materials. The book describes their main physical properties and applications in nanoelctronics, photonics, sensing and computing. A large part of the book deals with graphene and its amazing physical properties. Another important part of the book deals with semiconductor monolayers such as MoS2 with impressive applications in photonics, and electronics. Silicene and germanene are the atom-thick counterparts of silicon and germanium with impressive applications in electronics and photonics which are still unexplored. Consideration of two-dimensional electron gas devices conclude the treatment. The physics of 2DEG is explained in detail and the applications in THz and IR region are discussed. Both authors are working currently on these 2D materials developing theory and applications.

This book deals with standard spectroscopic techniques which can be used to analyze semiconductor samples or devices, in both, bulk, micrometer and submicrometer scale. The book aims helping experimental physicists and engineers to choose the right analytical spectroscopic technique in order to get specific information about their specific demands. For this purpose, the techniques including technical details such as apparatus and probed sample region are described. More important, also the expected outcome from experiments is provided. This involves also the link to theory, that is not subject of this book, and the link to current experimental results in the literature which are presented in a review-like style. Many special spectroscopic techniques are introduced and their relationship to the standard techniques is revealed. Thus the book works also as a type of guide or reference book for people researching in optical spectroscopy of semiconductors.

A valuable reference for the most vital microelectronic components in the marketplace

DRAMs are the technology drivers of high volume semiconductor fabrication processes for new generation products that, in addition to computer markets, are finding increased usage in automotive, aviation, military and space, telecommunications, and wireless industries. A new generation of high-density and high-performance memory architectures evolving for mass storage devices, including embedded memories and nonvolatile flash memories, are serving a diverse range of applications. Comprehensive and up to date, Advanced Semiconductor Memories: Architectures, Designs, and Applications offers professionals in the semiconductor and related industries an in-depth review of advanced semiconductor memories technology developments. It provides details on:

• Static Random Access Memory technologies including advanced architectures, low voltage SRAMs, fast SRAMs, SOI SRAMs, and specialty SRAMs (multiport, FIFOs, CAMs)
• High Performance Dynamic Random Access Memory–DDRs, synchronous DRAM/SGRAM features and architectures, EDRAM, CDRAM, Gigabit DRAM scaling issues and architectures, multilevel storage DRAMs, and SOI DRAMs
• Applications-specific DRAM architectures and designs–VRAMs, DDR SGRAMs, RDRAMs, SLDRAMs, 3-D RAM
• Advanced Nonvolatile Memory designs and technologies, including floating gate cell theory, EEPROM/flash memory cell design, and multilevel flash.
• FRAMs and reliability issues
• Embedded memory designs and applications, including cache, merged processor, DRAM architectures, memory cards, and multimedia applications
• Future memory directions with megabytes to terabytes storage capacities using RTDs, single electron memories, etc.

A continuation of the topics introduced in Semiconductor Memories: Technology, Testing, and Reliability, the author’s earlier work, Advanced Semiconductor Memories: Architectures, Designs, and Applications offers a much-needed reference to the major developments and future directions of advanced semiconductor memory technology.

This book covers high-transition temperature (Tc) s-wave superconductivity and the neighboring Mott insulating phase in alkali-doped fullerides. The author presents (1) a unified theoretical description of the phase diagram and (2) a nonempirical calculation of Tc. For these purposes, the author employs an extension of the DFT+DMFT (density-functional theory + dynamical mean-field theory). He constructs a realistic electron-phonon-coupled Hamiltonian with a newly formulated downfolding method. The Hamiltonian is analyzed by means of the extended DMFT. A notable aspect of the approach is that it requires only the crystal structure as a priori knowledge. Remarkably, the nonempirical calculation achieves for the first time a quantitative reproduction of the experimental phase diagram including the superconductivity and the Mott phase. The calculated Tc agrees well with the experimental data, with the difference within 10 K. The book provides details of the computational scheme, which can also be applied to other superconductors and other phonon-related topics. The author clearly describes a superconducting mechanism where the Coulomb and electron -phonon interactions show an unusual cooperation in the superconductivity thanks to the Jahn-Teller nature of the phonons.

This thesis presents an exact theoretical study of dynamical correlation functions in different phases of a two-dimensional quantum spin liquid. By calculating the dynamical spin structure factor and the Raman scattering cross section, this thesis shows that there are salient signatures-qualitative and quantitative-of the Majorana fermions and the gauge fluxes emerging as effective degrees of freedom in the exactly solvable Kitaev honeycomb lattice model. The model is a representative of a class of spin liquids with Majorana fermions coupled to Z2 gauge fields. The qualitative features of the response functions should therefore be characteristic for this broad class of topological states.

This book focuses on recently developed crystal growth techniques to grow large and high quality superconducting single crystals. The techniques applied are traveling solvent floating zone (TSFZ) with infrared image furnace, Bridgeman, solution/flux and top seeded solution growth (TSSG) methods. The materials range from cuprates, cobaltates to pnictides including La2CuO4-based (LCO), YBa2Cu3O7-d (YBCO), Bi2Sr2Can 1CunO2n+4+ (n=1,2,3) (BSCCO) to NaxCoO2. The modified Bridgman "cold finger" method is devoted to the pnictide system with the best quality (transition width DTc~0.5 K) with highest Tc~38.5 K of Ba0.68K0.32Fe2A2. The book presents various iron-based superconductors with different structures, such as 1111, 122, 111, 11 and 42622,10-3-8. Detailed single crystal growth methods (fluxes, Bridgman, floating zone), the associated procedures and their impact to crystal size and quality are presented. The book also describes the influence of doping on the structure and the electric, magnetic, and superconducting properties of these compounds in a comparative study of different growth methods. It describes particularly under-, optimal and over-doped with oxygen cuprates (LCO, YBCO and BSCCO) and hole/electron/isovalently doped parent compounds AFe2As2 (A = Ba, Sr, Ca) (122), chalcogenides AxFe2-ySe2(A = K, Rb, Cs) (122), and Fe1-dTe1-xSex (11). A review of the current growth technologies and future growth efforts handling volatile and poisonous components are also presented.

This book introduces the basic framework of advanced focal plane technology based on the third-generation infrared focal plane concept. The essential concept, research advances, and future trends in advanced sensor arrays are comprehensively reviewed. Moreover, the book summarizes recent research advances in HgCdTe/AlGaN detectors for the infrared/ultraviolet waveband, with a particular focus on the numerical method of detector design, material epitaxial growth and processing, as well as Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Transistor readout circuits. The book offers a unique resource for all graduate students and researchers interested in the technologies of focal plane arrays or electro-optical imaging sensors.

This book gives guidance to solve problems in electromagnetics, providing both examples of solving serious research problems as well as the original results to encourage further investigations. The book contains seven chapters on various aspects of resonant wave scattering, each solving one original problem. All of them are unified by the authors' desire to show advantages of rigorous approaches at all stages, from the formulation of a problem and the selection of a method to the interpretation of results. The book reveals a range of problems associated with wave propagation and scattering in natural and artificial environments or with the design of antennas elements. The authors invoke both theoretical (analytical and numerical) and experimental techniques for handling the problems. Attention is given to mathematical simulations, computational efficiency, and physical interpretation of the experimental results. The book is written for students, graduate students and young researchers.

This book reviews the current state-of-the art of single layer silicene up to thicker silicon nanosheets, and their structure, properties and potential applications. Silicene is a newly discovered material that is one atomic layer think. It is a two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial that is classified as a nanosheet, which has large lateral dimensions up to micrometres, but thicknesses of only nanometres or less. Silicon nanosheets are currently a very 'hot' area of research. The unique properties and morphology of such materials make them ideal for a variety of applications, including electronic devices, batteries and sensors. 2D nanosheets of silicon can be considered as analogues of graphene. As silicon is already the major component of electronic devices, the significance of nanosheets composed of silicon is that they can be more easily integrated into existing electronic devices. Furthermore, if 2D nanostructured Si can be implemented into such devices, then their size could be reduced into the nano-regime, providing unique properties different from bulk Si that is currently employed. The book is written for researchers and graduate students.

This thesis describes novel devices for the secure identification of objects or electronic systems. The identification relies on the the atomic-scale uniqueness of semiconductor devices by measuring a macroscopic quantum property of the system in question. Traditionally, objects and electronic systems have been securely identified by measuring specific characteristics: common examples include passwords, fingerprints used to identify a person or an electronic device, and holograms that can tag a given object to prove its authenticity. Unfortunately, modern technologies also make it possible to circumvent these everyday techniques. Variations in quantum properties are amplified by the existence of atomic-scale imperfections. As such, these devices are the hardest possible systems to clone. They also use the least resources and provide robust security. Hence they have tremendous potential significance as a means of reliably telling the good guys from the bad.

This textbook is aimed at second-year graduate students in Physics, Electrical Engineer ing, or Materials Science. It presents a rigorous introduction to electronic transport in solids, especially at the nanometer scale.Understanding electronic transport in solids requires some basic knowledge of Ham iltonian Classical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, Condensed Matter Theory, and Statistical Mechanics. Hence, this book discusses those sub-topics which are required to deal with electronic transport in a single, self-contained course. This will be useful for students who intend to work in academia or the nano/ micro-electronics industry.Further topics covered include: the theory of energy bands in crystals, of second quan tization and elementary excitations in solids, of the dielectric properties of semicon ductors with an emphasis on dielectric screening and coupled interfacial modes, of electron scattering with phonons, plasmons, electrons and photons, of the derivation of transport equations in semiconductors and semiconductor nanostructures somewhat at the quantum level, but mainly at the semi-classical level. The text presents examples relevant to current research, thus not only about Si, but also about III-V compound semiconductors, nanowires, graphene and graphene nanoribbons. In particular, the text gives major emphasis to plane-wave methods applied to the electronic structure of solids, both DFT and empirical pseudopotentials, always paying attention to their effects on electronic transport and its numerical treatment. The core of the text is electronic transport, with ample discussions of the transport equations derived both in the quantum picture (the Liouville-von Neumann equation) and semi-classically (the Boltzmann transport equation, BTE). An advanced chapter, Chapter 18, is strictly related to the 'tricky' transition from the time-reversible Liouville-von Neumann equation to the time-irreversible Green's functions, to the density-matrix formalism and, classically, to the Boltzmann transport equation. Finally, several methods for solving the BTE are also reviewed, including the method of moments, iterative methods, direct matrix inversion, Cellular Automata and Monte Carlo. Four appendices complete the text.

Introduction to Semiconductor Device Physics is a popular and established text that offers a thorough introduction to the underlying physics of semiconductor devices. It begins with a review of basic solid state physics, then goes on to describe the properties of semiconductors including energy bands, the concept of effective mass, carrier concentration, and conduction in more detail. Thereafter the book is concerned with the principles of operation of specific devices, beginning with the Gunn Diode and the p-n junction. The remaining chapters cover the on specific devices, including the LED, the bipolar transistor, the field-effect transistor, and the semiconductor laser. The book concludes with a chapter providing a brief introduction to quantum theory. Not overtly mathematical, Introduction to Semiconductor Device Physics introduces only those physical concepts required for an understanding of the semiconductor devices being considered. The author's intuitive style, coupled with an extensive set of worked problems, make this the ideal introductory text for those concerned with understanding electrical and electronic engineering, applied physics, and related subjects.

This book presents the basics and applications of photonic materials. It focuses on the utility of these devices for sensing, biosensing, and displays. The book includes fundamental aspects with a particular focus on the application of photonic materials. The field of photonic materials is both a burgeoning, and mature field. There are new advances being made on a daily basis, all based on the fundamental roots set by work by those like Ozin, Thomas, Asher, and others.