Pizzini - Physical Chemistry of Semiconductor Materials and Processes

This edition first published 2015

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ISBN: 9781118514573

Sunt igitur solida ac sine inani corpora prima. Preaterea quoniam genities in rebus inanest, materiam circum solidam constare necessest, nec res ulla potest vera ratione probari corpore inane suo celare atque intus habere, si non, quod cohibet, solidum constare reliquas.

Lucretius (56-95 BEC) De rerum natura.

Physical chemistry today plays a critical role in our basic understanding, modelling, diagnostics and theoretical forecast of semiconductor materials' properties, albeit some of Lucretius's concepts remain alive, such as the concept of vacuum/vacancies (materia inane) in solid materials.

Their mechanical, electrical and optical properties depend not only on their structure and composition, but also on their defects and impurities content and on their deviations from stoichiometry, when compound semiconductors are considered. We have learned how to manage their properties by doping and defect engineering processes.

Physical chemistry is behind most of these processes and is crucial in the growth, purification and post-growth treatments of semiconductors, such as impurity gettering and passivation. In this respect, this book represents the first attempt to treat semiconductor materials and processes from a purely physico-chemical viewpoint.

This subject is treated at a tutorial level, for students and specialists having a background knowledge in solid-state physics. For this reason the book starts with some elementary thermodynamic concepts, then continues by dealing with issues concerning point and extended defects in elemental and compound semiconductors, having in mind the thermodynamics and kinetics at the base of their behaviour. The physico-chemical aspects of growth-and post-growth processes of semiconductor materials are the final issues considered, giving substantial attention to the majority of semiconductors of industrial interest, but also to semiconductor nanowires and thin film semiconductors for photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications.

This book is dedicated to Professor Giovanni (Nanni) Giacometti, Academician, who stimulated in me a strong interest for the physico-chemical aspects of material science when he was my teacher, and who became a colleague and a close friend in the subsequent years.

This book is dedicated also to the hundreds of masters and doctoral degree students whom I taught, while not having the time to write a book for them.

I express my gratitude to a number of friends and colleagues worldwide who have supported my work during the preparation of this book with advice and delivery of material. Among them, my particular gratitude goes to Stefan Estreicher, Ichiro Yonenaga, Koichi Kakimoto, Chris Van de Walle, Arthur Pelton, Andrew R. Barron, Peter Weinberger, Michael Stavola, Nicola Marzari, Sandro Scandolo, Annalisa Fasolino, Arul Kumar, Margit Zacharias, Gudrun Kissinger, Harmut Bracht, Leonid Zhigilei, Kai Tang, Yong Du, Biao Hu, Erik Mazur, Eugene Yakimov, Alexander Thorsten Blumenau, Otto Sankey, David Holec, Jonathan S. Barnard, Anrew Barron, Caterina Summonte, Naoki Fukata, Eike Weber, Giovanni Isella, Alessia Irrera, Tzanimir Arguirov, Pierre Ruterana, Wladek Walukiewicz, and to my former coworkers Simona Binetti and Maurizio Acciarri, as well as to my son Michele, his wife Elena, and Silvia Mazzon for their help in improving, when possible, the figures of this book.

Elemental and compound semiconductors represent a vast family of materials of strategic interest for a variety of mature and advanced applications in micro- and opto-electronics, solid state lighting (SSL), solid state physical and chemical sensors, high efficiency solar cells and nanodevices. The materials themselves have always been technology enablers and their role today is even more significant in view of the increasing demand for sustainable development applications and high temperature, high pressure technologies.

The semiconductors family includes elemental solids such as silicon, the material of choice for the microelectronic and photovoltaic industry, binary alloys such as the Si-Ge alloys used for their elevated carrier mobilities, and compound semiconductors, of which SiC is used for high power, high frequency devices and phosphides, arsenides and nitrides for the most advanced optoelectronic applications.