Optical Microstructural Characterization of Semiconductors

The last decades of the 1900s have witnessed a significant development in materials research, accompanied by rapidly shrinking device sizes and a strong desire to understand semiconductors at a microscopic level. Driven by the technological demand for high-performance devices and new materials, scientists have developed new optical techniques to study semi-conductors at microscopic scales. Both linear and nonlinear optical processes have been utilized to shed light on physical phenomena related to the microstructural properties of semiconductors. Photoluminescence, cathodoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy techniques have been combined with state-of-the-art microscopy to provide detailed information on microstructural properties. For better than diffraction-limited resolution, scanning probe and near-field optical microscopies have been developed, providing ultrahigh-resolution characterization capability to observe otherwise inaccessible information. This book brings together researchers to review the recent progress in optical microstructural characterization of semiconductors and to, hopefully, stimulate future interest in this area of research. Topics include: near-field techniques; photo-electrical and resonance techniques; luminescence; Raman spectroscopy and optical properties.