Semiconductor physics. An introduction.

Publication date 7 November 1999

carriers doping energy bands optical processe quantum mechanical effects semiconductors strong physical fields transport phenomena

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to statistical mechanics (82-01) Statistical mechanics of semiconductors (82D37)

Review text

This monograph is an excellent university course on semiconductor physics, already having passed seven editions and being translated into many languages. In comparison with previous editions recent developments and achievements in the field have been included. The book is divided into fifteen chapters. The first one is devoted to introductory ideas and initial definitions on semiconductors. The necessary models of the crystal lattice and energy parameters for the description of an energy band structure are introduced in the second chapter. The statistics used in semiconductors for a distribution of electrons in discrete levels into a crystal, including impurity levels, are considered in the third chapter. In the fourth chapter the fluxes of charge and energy are calculated which are due to gradients of electrical potential, temperature, and the concentration of carriers. In this consideration it is assumed that the fluxes are influenced by external magnetic fields and mechanical forces. Here, the simplified approach of the Boltzmann equation in the relaxation time approximation is used by the author to consider the transport of charge and energy in a nondegenerate electron gas. In the next chapter the author investigates the diffusion of injected carriers in local variations in the type of doping which is typical for p-n junctions and bipolar transistors. The various scattering mechanisms for one-valley model which are caused by the impurities, acoustic waves, elastic, inelastic and piezoelectric effects, optical deformations, carrier-carrier interactions, etc. are presented in the sixth chapter. Here, the main attention is directed to find the energy dependence of the momentum relaxation time. In the cases where a power law is found, the magnitude of the exponent is determined. The next chapter is devoted to some important galvanomagnetic effects in the many-valley model of energy bands with take into account the intervalley transitions, the high-field domain, nucleating at an inhomogeneity, and the acoustoelectric instabilities. Based on the warped-sphere model the calculations of charge transport are carried out in the eighth chapter. The quantum mechanical effects (in particular, the tunnel effect) in the transport phenomena are presented in the following chapter. After that, the quantization of electron orbits in a strong magnetic field with the formation of Landau levels is considered which is very important to understand the oscillatory behavior of transport phenomena. The issues of the impact ionization in the bulk of homogeneously doped semiconductors at low temperatures and in p-n junctions at room temperature are discussed in the tenth chapter. A large chapter is devoted to propagation of electromagnetic radiation through semiconductors and its modification by electric and magnetic fields. Here, the different causes and mechanisms of the optical absorption and reflection are considered. The discussion of the photoconductivity with emphasis on trapping processes is presented in the twelfth chapter. In the final chapters there are considered light-emitting diodes and diode lasers, a brief discussion of the eects of the crystal surface and interfaces between semiconductors on their transnsport properties, and some observations of amorphous and organic semiconductors. The contents of the book includes numerous numerical results, and each chapter closes with problems and questions. The nearly nine-hundred references, mostly to journal publications support the very high scientific and methodical level of the monograph. So, the very successful combination of strict mathematical level, clear physical essence and important author's ability to present this immense amount of information in semiconductor physics makes the book necessary for studying this field.

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