"Characterization in Compound Semiconductor Processing is for scientists and engineers working with compound semiconductor materials and devices who are not characterization specialists. Materials and processes typically used in R&D and in the fabrication of GaAs, GaA1As, InP and HgCdTe based devices provide examples of common analytical problems. The book discusses a variety of characterization techniques to provide insight into how each individually, or in combination, might be used in solving problems associated with these materials. The book will help in the selection and application of the appropriate analytical techniques by its coverage of all stages of materials or device processing: substrate preparation, epitaxial growth, dielectric film deposition, contact formation and dopant introduction."--P. [4] of cover.

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. The book also includes three papers focused on radiation effects and reliability in III-V semiconductor electronics, which are useful for reference and future directions. Moreover, reliability is covered in several papers separately for certain process technologies.

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

Compound semiconductors such as Gallium Arsenide, Gallium Aluminum Arsenide, and Indium Phosphide are often difficult to characterize and present a variety of challenges from substrate preparation, to epitaxial growth to dielectric film deposition to dopant introduction. This book reviews the common classes of compound semiconductors, their physical, optical and electrical properties and the various types of methods used for characterizing them when analyzing for defects and application problems. The book features: -- Characterization of III-V Thin Films for Electronic and Optical applications -- Characterization of Dielectric Insulating Film layers -- A Special case study on Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy on GaAs -- Concise summaries of major characterization technologies for compound semiconductor materials, including Auger Electron Spectroscopy, Ballistic Electron Emission Microscopy, Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy, Neutron Activation Analysis and Raman Spectroscopy