The interaction between light and electrons in semiconductors forms the basis
for many interesting and practically significant properties. This book examines
the fundamental physics underlying this rich complexity of photo-electronic
properties of semiconductors, and will familiarize the reader with the relatively
simple models that are useful in describing these fundamentals. The basic
physics is also illustrated with typical recent examples of experimental data
and observations.
Following introductory material on the basic concepts, the book moves on
to consider a wide range of phenomena, including photo-conductivity, recombination
effects, photo-electronic methods of defect analysis, photo-effects at
grain boundaries, amorphous semiconductors, photo-voltaic effects and
photo-effects in quantum wells and super-lattices. The author is Professor of
Materials Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, and has
taught this material for many years. He is an experienced author, his earlier
books having found wide acceptance and use. This book represents, as much
as any one book can, his 44 years of research to date.
Readers will therefore find this volume to be an up-to-date and concise
summary of the major concepts, models and results. It is intended as a text for
graduate students, but will be an important resource for anyone researching in
this interesting field.