Fundamentals of Semiconductors - (Graduate Texts in Physics) 4th Edition by Peter Yu & Manuel Cardona (Paperback)

About the Book

This fourth edition of the well-established Fundamentals of Semiconductors serves to fill the gap between a general solid-state physics textbook and research articles by providing detailed explanations of the electronic, vibrational, transport, and optical properties of semiconductors. The approach is physical and intuitive rather than formal and pedantic. Theories are presented to explain experimental results. This textbook has been written with both students and researchers in mind. Its emphasis is on understanding the physical properties of Si and similar tetrahedrally coordinated semiconductors. The explanations are based on physical insights. Each chapter is enriched by an extensive collection of tables of material parameters, figures, and problems. Many of these problems "lead the student by the hand" to arrive at the results. The major changes made in the fourth edition include: an extensive appendix about the important and by now well-established deep center known as the DX center, additional problems and the solutions to over fifty of the problems at the end of the various chapters. Some of the solutions contain extensions via discussions about topics of current interest in the field of semiconductor physics, such as spin-orbit coupling and k-linear band dispersion.

Book Synopsis

This third updated edition fills the gap between a general solid-state physics textbook and research articles by providing detailed explanations of the electronic, vibrational, transport, and optical properties of semiconductors. The approach is physical and intuitive rather than formal and pedantic. The textbook emphasizes understanding the physical properties of Si and similar tetrahedrally coordinated semiconductors. Each chapter is enriched by an extensive collection of tables of material parameters, figures, and problems. Many of these problems "lead the student by the hand" to arrive at the results.

From the Back Cover

This fourth edition of the well-established Fundamentals of Semiconductors serves to fill the gap between a general solid-state physics textbook and research articles by providing detailed explanations of the electronic, vibrational, transport, and optical properties of semiconductors. The approach is physical and intuitive rather than formal and pedantic. Theories are presented to explain experimental results. This textbook has been written with both students and researchers in mind. Its emphasis is on understanding the physical properties of Si and similar tetrahedrally coordinated semiconductors. The explanations are based on physical insights. Each chapter is enriched by an extensive collection of tables of material parameters, figures, and problems. Many of these problems "lead the student by the hand" to arrive at the results.

The major changes made in the fourth edition include: an extensive appendix about the important and by now well-established deep center known as the DX center, additional problems and the solutions to over fifty of the problems at the end of the various chapters.

Some of the solutions contain extensions via discussion about topics of current interest in the field of semiconductor physics, such as spin-orbit coupling and k-linear band dispersion.

Review Quotes

From the reviews:

"The most striking feature of the book is its modern outlook ... provides a wonderful foundation. The most wonderful feature is its efficient style of exposition ... an excellent book." Physics Today

"This book, aimed at postgraduates not undergraduates, exemplifies both the difficulty of the subject and its variety. It presents the theoretical derivations carefully and in detail and gives thorough discussions of the experimental results it presents. This makes it an excellent textbook both for learners and for more experienced researchers wishing to check facts. I have enjoyed reading it and strongly recommend it as a text for anyone working with semiconductors ... I know of no better text ... I am sure most semiconductor physicists will find this book useful and I recommend it to them." Contemporary Physics

From the reviews of the fourth edition:

"Fundamentals of Semiconductors by Yu and Cardona, here at the fourth edition, is a book aimed at postgraduate ... students. ... provides the students with a solid and up-to-date background of the physical properties of semiconductors. ... Yu and Cardona present in their book a concise, personal and yet satisfactory list of topics. ... presentations are particularly inspiring and enlightening, giving a direct insight into the motivations and into paths which led researchers to fundamental advances in semiconductor physics." (S. Sanguinetti, Il Nuovo Saggiatore, Vol. 27 (5-6), 2011)

"It provides first-time users, especially the graduate students at whom the text is primarily aimed, with a sense of the dynamism of the subject. Overall, this book remains the best graduate-level text on semiconductor physics that I know, and I recommend it very strongly." (A. M. Fox, Contemporary Physics, February, 2012)