This book focuses on reliability and radiation effects in compound semiconductors, which have evolved rapidly during the last 15 years. It starts with first principles, and shows how advances in device design and manufacturing have suppressed many of the older reliability mechanisms.It is the first book that comprehensively covers reliability and radiation effects in optoelectronic as well as microelectronic devices. It contrasts reliability mechanisms of compound semiconductors with those of silicon-based devices, and shows that the reliability of many compound semiconductors has improved to the level where they can be used for ten years or more with low failure rates.

Silicon-based microelectronics has steadily improved in various performance-to-cost metrics. But after decades of processor scaling, fundamental limitations and considerable new challenges have emerged. The integration of compound semiconductors is the leading candidate to address many of these issues and to continue the relentless pursuit of more

This is the book version of a special issue of the International Journal of High Speed Electronics and Systems, reviewing recent work in the field of compound semiconductor integrated circuits. There are fourteen invited papers covering a wide range of applications, frequencies and materials. These papers deal with digital, analog, microwave and millimeter-wave technologies, devices and integrated circuits for wireline fiber-optic lightwave transmissions, and wireless radio-frequency microwave and millimeter-wave communications. In each case, the market is young and experiencing rapid growth for both commercial and millitary applications. Many new semiconductor technologies compete for these new markets, leading to an alphabet soup of semiconductor materials described in these papers. Contents: Present and Future of High-Speed Compound Semiconductor IC's (T Otsuji); Transforming MMIC (E J Martinez); Distributed Amplifier for Fiber-Optic Communication Systems (H Shigematsu et al.); Microwave GaN-Based Power Transistors on Large-Scale Silicon Wafers (S Manohar et al.); Radiation Effects in High Speed III-V Integrated Circuits (T R Weatherford); Radiation Effects in III-V Semiconductor Electronics (B D Weaver et al.); Reliability and Radiation Hardness of Compound Semiconductors (S A Kayali & A H Johnston); and other papers. Readership: Engineers, scientists and graduate students working on high speed electronics and systems, and in the area of compound semiconductor integrated circuits.

This issue of ECS Transactions contain the most recent developments in compound semiconductors encompassing advanced devices, materials growth, characterization, processing, device fabrication, reliability, and other related topics, as well as the most recent developments in processes at the semiconductor/solution interface including etching, oxidation, passivation, film growth, electrochemical and photoelectrochemical processes, electroluminescence, photoluminescence, and other related topics.