Optoelectronics ranks one of the highest increasing rates among the different industrial branches. This activity is closely related to devices which are themselves extremely dependent on materials. Indeed, the history of optoelectronic devices has been following closely that of the materials. KLUWER Academic Publishers has thus rightly identified "Materials for Optoelectronics" as a good opportunity for a book in the series entitled "Electronic Materials; Science and Technology". Although a sound background in solid state physics is recommended, the authors have confined their contribution to a graduate student level, and tried to define any concept they use, to render the book as a whole as self-consistent as possible. In the first section the basic aspects are developed. Here, three chapters consider semiconductor materials for optoelectronics under various aspects. Prof. G. E. Stillman begins with an introduction to the field from the point of view of the optoelectronic market. Then he describes how III-V materials, especially the Multi Quantum Structures meet the requirements of optoelectronic functions, including the support of microelectronics for optoelectronic integrated circuits. In chapter 2, Prof.
Due to the recent discovery of the room-temperature visible light emission from porous silicon (P-Si), a great interest in P-Si and related materials has arisen in the last decade of the 20th century. Crystalline (c-) Si, at the heart of integrated circuits, has an indirect band gap of 1.1 eV, which limits its application in optoelectronics. The visible light emitting P-Si may open a new field combining Si integrated technology and optoelectronics. This book is a comprehensive review of the recent research and development of porous silicon. Strong visible photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) from P-Si and other forms of silicon nanocrystallites (nc-Si) are reviewed. Several proposed mechanisms for the PL from porous silicon such as quantum confinement, amorphicity and molecular PL are studied. The following issues are covered: mechanisms for the visible light emission, physical structures, studies of the PL and EL, correlation of structure and optical studies, surface physics and chemistry, relationships among various forms (P-Si, a-Si, µc-Si), device applications, future developments.