Author Description

Semiconductor Devices: Pioneering Papers makes available an important collection of 141 pioneering papers on semiconductor devices covering a period of 100 years, from the earliest systematic investigation of metal-semiconductor contacts in 1874 to the first observation of the resonant tunneling in 1974. The first papers on all of the major semiconductor devices including the p - n junction, the heterojunction, the bipolar transistor, hot electron transistors, thyristors, the Schottky barrier, the Mott barrier, the JFET, the MESFET, the MOS diode, the charge-coupled device, the MOSFET, the CMOS, the nonvolatile memory, the tunnel diode, the quantum well, superlattice structures, the IMPATT diode, the BARITT diode, the transferred-electron device, the LED, the laser diode, the photodetector and the solar cell are included. Also presented are the classic papers on device physics and characterization such as the generation-recombination theory, the high injection theory, the avalanche breakdown theory, the Fowler-Nordheim tunneling theory, the noise theory, the Debye length concept, the Hall effect, the Early voltage, the Ebers-Moll model, the differential capacitance method, and the lifetime measurement technique.The papers are divided into four parts: bipolar, unipolar, special microwave, and photonic devices, with a commentary for each part to highlight the importance of each of the collected papers. This book serves as a useful reference for a first-hand look at the operational principles of devices as conceived by their inventors and to understand the basic device physics as documented by their discoverers.