Synopses & Reviews
Narrow Gap II-VI Compounds for Optoelectronic and Electromagnetic Applications will enable readers to gain an insight into this extremely important area of electronic materials activity. Specialists in the field will benefit from its wide-ranging and topical coverage of the subject. At the same time, each of the chapters covers the basic principles associated with the topic concerned and includes references for further study and so will be suitable for advanced graduate courses. Narrow Gap II-VI Compounds for Optoelectronic and Electromagnetic Applications is organised in three main sections. The first covers the growth of materials from the earliest, though still used, bulk techniques, through to the more recent epitaxial techniques, based on both liquid and gas phases, and includes the exciting new area of low dimensional solids and the novel concepts which arise from them. The second section discusses the properties of the materials which make them useful in optical, transport, doping, defects, diffusion and structural applications, and the interfacial and surface effects. In addition, there is a separate chapter on dilute magnetic semiconductors and their unique and fascinating properties. Finally, there is a devices section which encompasses the major fields of infrared detection and emission, by several device types, and the expanding areas of solar cell production and room temperature detection of X-rays and gamma-rays.
Synopsis
The field of narrow-gap II-VI materials is dominated by lhe compound mercury cadmium telluride, MCT or Hg1_ .. Cd .. Te. By varying the x value, material can be made to cover all the important infrared (lR) ranges of interest. It is probably true to say that MCT is the third most studied semiconductor after silicon and gallium arsenide. As current epitaxial layers of MCT are mainly grown on bulk CdTe- family substrates these materials are included in this book, although strictly, of course, they are not 'narrow-gap'. This book is intended for readers who are either new to the field or are experienced workers in the field who need a comprehensive and up to date view of this rapidly expanding area. To satisfy the needs of the frrst group each chapter discusses the principles underlying each topic and some of the historical background before bringing the reader the most recent information available. For those currently in the field the book can be used as a collection of useful data, as a guide to the literature and as an overview of topics covering the wide range of work areas.
Table of Contents
Part One: Growth techniques. Bulk growth techniques. Liquid phase epitaxy. Metal-organic vap our phase epitaxy. Molecular beam epitaxy of HgCdTe. Part Two: Materials characterisation. Optical properties of MCT. Transport properties of narrow-gap II-VI compounds. Intrinsic and extrinsic doping. Point defects in narrow-gap II-VI compounds. Diffusion in narrow-gap II-VI compounds. Surfaces/interfaces of narrow-gap II-VI compounds. Trends in structural defects in narrow-gap II-VI semiconductors. Quantum wells and superlattices. Properties of diluted magnetic semiconductors. Part Three: Device applications. Photoconductive detectors in HgCdTe and related alloys. Photovoltaic IR detectors. Non-equilibrium devices in HgCdTe. Emission devices. Photoelectromagnetic, magnetoconcentration and Dember infrared detecors. Solar cells based on CdTe. Radiation detectors. Index.