This book is the first to give a comprehensive review of the theory, fabrication, characterisation, and device applications of abrupt, shallow, and narrow doping profiles in semiconductors. Such doping profiles are a key element in the development of modern semiconductor technology. After an introductory chapter setting out the basic theoretical and experimental concepts involved, the fabrication of abrupt and narrow doping profiles by several different techniques, including epitaxial growth, is discussed. The techniques for characterising doping distributions are then presented, followed by several chapters devoted to the inherent physical properties of narrow doping profiles. The latter part of the book deals with specific devices. The book will be of great interest to graduate students, researchers and engineers in the fields of semiconductor physics and microelectronic engineering.

This is the first book to describe thoroughly the many facets of doping in compound semiconductors. Equal emphasis is given to the fundamental materials physics and to the technological aspects of doping. The author describes various doping techniques, including doping during epitaxial growth, doping by implantation, and doping by diffusion. The key characteristics of all dopants that have been employed in III-V semiconductors are discussed. In addition, general characteristics of dopants are analyzed, including the electrical activity, saturation, amphotericity, autocompensation, and maximum attainable dopant concentration. Redistribution effects are important in semiconductor microstructures. Linear and non-linear diffusion, different microscopic diffusion mechanisms, surface segregation, surface drift, surface migration, impurity-induced disordering, and the respective physical driving mechanisms are illustrated. Topics related to basic impurity theory include the hydrogenic model for shallow impurities, linear screening, density of states, classical and quantum statistics, the law of mass action, as well as many analytic approximations for the Fermi-Dirac integral for three-, two- and one dimensional systems. The timely topic of highly doped semiconductors, including band tails, impurity bands, bandgap renormalization, the Mott transition, and the Burstein-Moss shift, is discussed as well. Doping is essential in many semiconductor heterostructures including high-mobility selectively doped heterostructures, quantum well and quantum barrier structures, doping superlattice structures and d-doping structures. Technologically important deep levels are summarized, including Fe, Cr, and the DX-center, the EL2 defect, and rare-earth impurities. The properties of deep levels are presented phenomenologically, including emission, capture, Shockley-Read recombination, the Poole-Frenkel effect, lattice relaxation, and other effects. The final chapter is dedicated to the experimental characterization of impurities. This book will be of interest to graduate students, researchers and development engineers in the fields of electrical engineering, materials science, physics, and chemistry working on semiconductors. The book may also be used as a text for graduate courses in electrical engineering and materials science.

Defects in Nanocrystals: Structural and Physico-Chemical Aspects discusses the nature of semiconductor systems and the effect of the size and shape on their thermodynamic and optoelectronic properties at the mesoscopic and nanoscopic levels. The nanostructures considered in this book are individual nanometric crystallites, nanocrystalline films, and nanowires of which the thermodynamic, structural, and optical properties are discussed in detail. The work: Outlines the influence of growth processes on their morphology and structure Describes the benefits of optical spectroscopies in the understanding of the role and nature of defects in nanostructured semiconductors Considers the limits of nanothermodynamics Details the critical role of interfaces in nanostructural behavior Covers the importance of embedding media in the physico-chemical properties of nanostructured semiconductors Explains the negligible role of core point defects vs. surface and interface defects Written for researchers, engineers, and those working in the physical and physicochemical sciences, this work comprehensively details the chemical, structural, and optical properties of semiconductor nanostructures for the development of more powerful and efficient devices.

The MRS Symposium Proceeding series is an internationally recognised reference suitable for researchers and practitioners.