Disordered materials offer new and unexpected insights into the structure of solids and the ways charge carriers move and interact with their environment. The first part of this review volume presents new results and ideas in the subject dealing with the local bonding structure in amorphous and vitreous semiconductors. These include the local bonding structure in chalcogenide glasses containing metal atoms, the interaction of local vibrational modes with their local bonding environment, and new models for the H-bonding configurations.The second part is devoted to questions of low temperature hopping transport and recombination of photocarriers in disordered semiconductors as a function of frequency and at high electric fields. The reviews by leading experts offer different insights and attempt to address problems from the various angles.

Nine papers explore recent findings and theories about transport, correlation, and structural defects as they relate to the local bonding structure in amorphous and vitreous semiconductors; and the low-temperature hopping transport and recombination of photocarriers in disordered semiconductors as a function of frequency and at high electric fields. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This is a useful textbook for graduate students in the fields of solid state physics and chemistry as well as electronic engineering. Presenting the fundamentals of amorphous semiconductors clearly, it will be essential reading for young scientists intending to develop new preparation techniques for more ideal amorphous semiconductors e.g. a-Si:H, to fabricate stable and efficient solar cells and thin film transistors and new artificial amorphous materials such as multilayers for quantum devices.A large portion is devoted to the latest developments of amorphous semiconductors including electronic properties of a-Si:H, nature of weak bonds and gap states in a-Si:H, mechanisms for light-induced defect creation in a-Si:H and chalcogenides, quantum phenomena in multilayer films.

The proceedings reflect the Twelfth International Conference on Defects in Insulating Materials, covering topics on point defects and extended defects including theory and computer simulation in various insulating materials, as well as applications in laser physics, imaging, data storage and radioactive waste disposal.

This book addresses a wide range of topics relating to the properties and behavior of condensed matter under extreme conditions such as intense magnetic and electric fields, high pressures, heat and cold, and mechanical stresses. It is divided into four sections devoted to condensed matter theory, molecular chemistry, theoretical physics, and the philosophy and history of science. The main themes include electronic correlations in material systems under extreme pressure and temperature conditions, surface physics, the transport properties of low-dimensional electronic systems, applications of the density functional theory in molecular systems, and graphene. The book is the outcome of a workshop held at the University of Catania, Italy, in honor of Professor Renato Pucci on the occasion of his 70th birthday. It includes selected invited contributions from collaborators and co-authors of Professor Pucci during his long and successful career, as well as from other distinguished guest authors.

The aim of this NATO ASI has been to present an up-to-date overview of current areas of interest in amorphous materials, with particular emphasis on electronic properties and device applications. In order to limit the material to a manageable amount, the meeting was concerned almost exclusively with semiconducting materials. This volume should be regarded as a follow-on to the NATO ASI held in Sozopol, Bulgaria in 1996 and published as "Amorphous Insulators and Semiconductors" edited by M.F. Thorpe and M.1. Mitkova (Kluwer Academic Publishers, NATO ASI series, 3 High Technology - Vol. 23). The lectures and seminars fill the gap between graduate courses and research seminars. The lecturers and seminar speakers were chosen as experts in their respective areas, and the lectures and seminars that were given are presented in this volume. During the first week of the meeting, an emphasis was placed on introductory lectures while the second week focused more on research seminars. There were two very good poster sessions that generated a lot of discussion, but these are not reproduced in this volume as the editors wanted to have only larger contributions to make the proceedings more coherent.