Advances in nanotechnology have generated semiconductor structures that are only a few molecular layers thick, and this has important consequences for the physics of electrons and phonons in such structures. This book describes in detail how confinement of electrons and phonons in quantum wells and wires affects the physical properties of the semiconductor. This second edition contains four new chapters on spin relaxation, based on recent theoretical research; the hexagonal wurtzite lattice; nitride structures, whose novel properties stem from their spontaneous electric polarization; and terahertz sources, which includes an account of the controversies that surrounded the concepts of Bloch oscillations and Wannier-Stark states. The book is unique in describing the microscopic theory of optical phonons, the radical change in their nature due to confinement, and how they interact with electrons. It will interest graduate students and researchers working in semiconductor physics.

Advances in nanotechnology have generated semiconductor structures that are only a few molecular layers thick, and this has important consequences for the physics of electrons and phonons in such structures. This book describes in detail how confinement of electrons and phonons in quantum wells and wires affects the physical properties of the semiconductor. This second edition contains four new chapters on spin relaxation, based on recent theoretical research; the hexagonal wurtzite lattice; nitride structures, whose novel properties stem from their spontaneous electric polarization; and terahertz sources, which includes an account of the controversies that surrounded the concepts of Bloch oscillations and Wannier-Stark states. The book is unique in describing the microscopic theory of optical phonons, the radical change in their nature due to confinement, and how they interact with electrons. It will interest graduate students and researchers working in semiconductor physics.

Instabilities associated with hot electrons in semiconductors have been investigated from the beginning of transistor physics in the 194Os. The study of NDR and impact ionization in bulk material led to devices like the Gunn diode and the avalanche-photo-diode. In layered semiconductors domain formation in HEMTs can lead to excess gate leakage and to excess noise. The studies of hot electron transport parallel to the layers in heterostructures, single and multiple, have shown abundant evidence of electrical instability and there has been no shortage of suggestions concerning novel NDR mechanisms, such as real space transfer, scattering induced NDR, inter-sub band transfer, percolation effects etc. Real space transfer has been exploited in negative-resistance PETs (NERFETs) and in the charge-injection transistor (CHINT) and in light emitting logic devices, but far too little is known and understood about other NDR mechanisms with which quantum well material appears to be particularly well-endowed, for these to be similarly exploited. The aim of this book is therefore to collate what is known and what is not known about NDR instabilities, and to identify promising approaches and techniques which will increase our understanding of the origin of these instabilities which have been observed during the last decade of investigations into high-field longitudinal transport in layered semiconductors. The book covers the fundamental properties of hot carrier transport and the associated instabilities and light emission in 2-dimensional semiconductors dealing with both theory and experiment.

The third edition of this distinguished text describes the basic quantum-mechanical processes in homogeneous semiconductors which are most relevant to applied semiconductor physics. Unlike other texts which have sought to cover all aspects of semiconductors, including physical and chemical aspects, this text concentrates almost exclusively on electronic processes. Principle topics include crystalline materials in which the electron and holes in the bands obey non-degenerate statistics. Basic quantum mechanics are discussed, stressing the principles of first- and second-order perturbation theory. This updated edition includes a new chapter on phonon processes. Besides being a useful reference for workers in the field, this book will be a valuable text for students studying quantum processes in semiconductors.

There are some wonderfully bizarre ideas in physics, and it seems a pity to keep them locked up in small boxes, available only to an esoteric coterie of key holders. Brian Ridley's book sets out to survey in simple, nonmathematical terms what physics has to say about the fundamental structure of the universe. He deals with all the basic concepts of modern physics: elementary particles, black holes, gravity, quantum theory, time, mass, relativity and energy; this new edition also includes coverage of more recently emerging ideas, including strings, imaginary time and chaos. Ridley's clear and witty account gives an exciting introduction to the nonspecialist while offering a fresh perspective to scientists themselves.