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Rectifying semiconductor contacts
BOOK
REVIEWS
same method, appeared too late to be discussed here. KNOX’Stable of functions and PFANN’S paper will no doubt be of great help to specialists. Titles in Volume 5 are as follows: “Galvanometric and thermomagnetic effects in metals” by J. P. JAN; “Luminescence in solids” by C. C. KLICK and J. H. SCHULMAN; “Space groups and their representations” by G. F. KOSTER; “Shallow impurity states in silicon and germanium” by W. KOHN; and “Quadrupole effects in nuclear magnetic resonance studies of solids” by M. H. COHEN and F. REIF. JAN’S paper presents a very thorough picture of the experimental situation in his field, with emphasis on magnetoresistance and the Hall effect. It overlaps somewhat BLATT’S paper in the previous volume, but the aims of the two papers are clearly different. KLICK and SCHULMAN’S paper is a somewhat simplified account of luminescence. KOSTER’S paper will be of great practical help in the computation of energy band structures in solids, including spin-orbit coupling. It is presented in a very systematic way. KOHN’S paper deals with isolated impurities of a simple type in semiconductors. This rather restricted field is of primary importance for the comprehension of solid-state physics both from a theoretical point of view, and also from a utilitarian, technological point of view. KOHN presents an extremely clear, complete and interesting picture, which owes much to his own personal work. Finally, COHEN and REIF’S paper outlines the theory of quadrupole nuclear resonance effects, and the data it has been possible to obtain from them on the electronic structure of solids. J. FRIEDEL
H. K. HENISCH.Rectifying Semiconductor Contacts. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1957. 372 pp., 70s. THIS volume is announced as being intended primarily for those who wish to make a specialized study of rectifyirg contacts between metals and semiconductors. Being written by one of the bestknown workers in the field, it is an extremely thorough review of the subject. The introduction contains avery complete historical survey which can be criticized ocly on the ground that it is so thorough that some theories which are not nowadays of much interest, even
237
historically, are included. The next two chapters are devoted to an exposition of the basic problems of semiconductor physics and the bulk properties of important semiconductors, which are used as a background in the rest of the book. There follow two chapters on phenomenological descriptions of the properties of plate and point-contact metal/ semiconductor rectifiers. Theory is then dealt with in three chapters entitled respectively ‘Unipolar rectification theories’, ‘Theoryof injectingcontacts’, and some special contact theories. The last two chapters describe some recent and in some cases as-yet-unpublished experiments on point-contact and plate rectifitrs. On reading the book one may wonder why, after giving such a good and thorough-going description of the basic properties of semiconductors and explaining clearly concepts such as quasi-Fermi levels, etc., the author did not take advantage of them to include, besides the metal/ semiconductor theories, some description of p-n junction behaviour. Indeed, one feels that the book would not have had to be much thicker in order to include internal rectification in semiconductor compositional structure besides the much more specialized and less well understood subject of metal/semiconductor contacts. Some of the now discarded theories and the less important experiments could have been omitted in order to eliminate enough pages to be able to include this treatment of p-n junctions. Nevertheless, in the opinion of the reviewer this is a rather minor drawback, inasmuch as the book is obviously intended more as a source of reference for workers in the field than as a textbook. References to work in the field of p-n junctions and transistors are available elsewhere, and there was undoubtedly a definite need for such a review as this in the field of metal’semiconductor contacts. The author and the publisher are to be congratulated on the precise definition of symbols used consistently throughout the volume, with a table of symbols included at the end. A wellselected, though not exhaustive bibliogrcphy is appended, covering the period from 1874 to the first few months of 1955. As it stands this book will certcir ly be extremely useful to worktrs in the field of rectification in semiconductor devices. P. AIGRAIN
REVIEWS
same method, appeared too late to be discussed here. KNOX’Stable of functions and PFANN’S paper will no doubt be of great help to specialists. Titles in Volume 5 are as follows: “Galvanometric and thermomagnetic effects in metals” by J. P. JAN; “Luminescence in solids” by C. C. KLICK and J. H. SCHULMAN; “Space groups and their representations” by G. F. KOSTER; “Shallow impurity states in silicon and germanium” by W. KOHN; and “Quadrupole effects in nuclear magnetic resonance studies of solids” by M. H. COHEN and F. REIF. JAN’S paper presents a very thorough picture of the experimental situation in his field, with emphasis on magnetoresistance and the Hall effect. It overlaps somewhat BLATT’S paper in the previous volume, but the aims of the two papers are clearly different. KLICK and SCHULMAN’S paper is a somewhat simplified account of luminescence. KOSTER’S paper will be of great practical help in the computation of energy band structures in solids, including spin-orbit coupling. It is presented in a very systematic way. KOHN’S paper deals with isolated impurities of a simple type in semiconductors. This rather restricted field is of primary importance for the comprehension of solid-state physics both from a theoretical point of view, and also from a utilitarian, technological point of view. KOHN presents an extremely clear, complete and interesting picture, which owes much to his own personal work. Finally, COHEN and REIF’S paper outlines the theory of quadrupole nuclear resonance effects, and the data it has been possible to obtain from them on the electronic structure of solids. J. FRIEDEL
H. K. HENISCH.Rectifying Semiconductor Contacts. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1957. 372 pp., 70s. THIS volume is announced as being intended primarily for those who wish to make a specialized study of rectifyirg contacts between metals and semiconductors. Being written by one of the bestknown workers in the field, it is an extremely thorough review of the subject. The introduction contains avery complete historical survey which can be criticized ocly on the ground that it is so thorough that some theories which are not nowadays of much interest, even
237
historically, are included. The next two chapters are devoted to an exposition of the basic problems of semiconductor physics and the bulk properties of important semiconductors, which are used as a background in the rest of the book. There follow two chapters on phenomenological descriptions of the properties of plate and point-contact metal/ semiconductor rectifiers. Theory is then dealt with in three chapters entitled respectively ‘Unipolar rectification theories’, ‘Theoryof injectingcontacts’, and some special contact theories. The last two chapters describe some recent and in some cases as-yet-unpublished experiments on point-contact and plate rectifitrs. On reading the book one may wonder why, after giving such a good and thorough-going description of the basic properties of semiconductors and explaining clearly concepts such as quasi-Fermi levels, etc., the author did not take advantage of them to include, besides the metal/ semiconductor theories, some description of p-n junction behaviour. Indeed, one feels that the book would not have had to be much thicker in order to include internal rectification in semiconductor compositional structure besides the much more specialized and less well understood subject of metal/semiconductor contacts. Some of the now discarded theories and the less important experiments could have been omitted in order to eliminate enough pages to be able to include this treatment of p-n junctions. Nevertheless, in the opinion of the reviewer this is a rather minor drawback, inasmuch as the book is obviously intended more as a source of reference for workers in the field than as a textbook. References to work in the field of p-n junctions and transistors are available elsewhere, and there was undoubtedly a definite need for such a review as this in the field of metal’semiconductor contacts. The author and the publisher are to be congratulated on the precise definition of symbols used consistently throughout the volume, with a table of symbols included at the end. A wellselected, though not exhaustive bibliogrcphy is appended, covering the period from 1874 to the first few months of 1955. As it stands this book will certcir ly be extremely useful to worktrs in the field of rectification in semiconductor devices. P. AIGRAIN