Written by one of the founders of this field, this book provides a historical overview of the invention of superlattice, one of the most important devices of the second half of the 20th century. In addition to describing the fundamental concepts, this completely revised and updated edition provides new insights in the field of manmade solids.
Written by one of the founders of this fieldDelivers over 20% new material, including new research and new technological applications

Provides a basic understanding of the physics involved from first principles, while adding new depth, using basic mathematics and an explanation of the background essentials

Due to the recent discovery of the room-temperature visible light emission from porous silicon (P-Si), a great interest in P-Si and related materials has arisen in the last decade of the 20th century. Crystalline (c-) Si, at the heart of integrated circuits, has an indirect band gap of 1.1 eV, which limits its application in optoelectronics. The visible light emitting P-Si may open a new field combining Si integrated technology and optoelectronics. This book is a comprehensive review of the recent research and development of porous silicon. Strong visible photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) from P-Si and other forms of silicon nanocrystallites (nc-Si) are reviewed. Several proposed mechanisms for the PL from porous silicon such as quantum confinement, amorphicity and molecular PL are studied. The following issues are covered: mechanisms for the visible light emission, physical structures, studies of the PL and EL, correlation of structure and optical studies, surface physics and chemistry, relationships among various forms (P-Si, a-Si, c-Si), device applications, future developments.