Semiconductor Devices: Physics and Technology, 2nd Edition

Rating:
Summary: good info
Review: A lot of people consider this the semiconductor device "bible"...but I think that's more or less 'cause back in 85 there just weren't that many good books written a about this subject. There are now many, many books so... It's not a bad book to own so buy this and some other book. You can never have too many books.

Rating:
Summary: good info
Review: A lot of people consider this the semiconductor device "bible"...but I think that's more or less 'cause back in 85 there just weren't that many good books written a about this subject. There are now many, many books so... It's not a bad book to own so buy this and some other book. You can never have too many books.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended as a reference book
Review: This is a good book providing the most important references in the field of semiconductors devices and technology. As a text book it is hard to follow and gives little scientific background regarding the physics of processes in semiconductors and structures design criteria. However, it provides a wonderful summary of the most important facts related to the devices and their derivatives, including valuable data on the common materials in use.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not excellent book!
Review: This is a very famous book for describing the semiconductor physics, although this is not new. Some people maybe think that is hard to follow, but it does provide a lot of information and document for readers. Thus, it can be a very good reference book because it introduces many important papers in semiconductor developments. So you will know why and how semiconductor devices become what we see today!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Basic Introduction for Engineers
Review: This is a welcome 2nd edition of Sze's basic introduction to the technology underlying modern conventional semiconductor devices. The first edition of 1985 served the needs of its time admirably, but the 17 years since have seen much progress in the field, especially in the area of fabrication technology.

It should be stressed that this text is an introductory text, covering the basics well, but not taking the material much beyond the intermediate level. It is also very much an engineering text rather than a physics text, for the focus is squarely placed on the technology and not the underlying solid-state physics. As such, it is suited to undergraduate electrical/electronic engineers wishing to gain some appreciation of the physics underpinning conventional semiconductor devices, and the way they are fabricated, or for physicists wishing to gain some perspective on the fabrication and operation of the same, but it is in no way a comprehensive textbook on semiconductor physics.

Nevertheless, the material that is presented is well chosen, and well explained. The English prose style is somewhat pedestrian, but this is no great flaw in an engineering textbook. All the essentials of semiconductor materials (almost exclusively Si and GaAs) are described, the p-n junction, as well as the major device types (BJTs, (MOS/MES)FETs, microwave diodes, LEDs, lasers, etc.) and the modern technologies employed for their fabrication. In some senses, the section on fabrication technologies, taking up fully a third of the book, is perhaps its best section, for fabrication is rarely given such emphasis (although, again, not detailed, but covering most salient points) in an introductory book.

The pedagogical method employed by Sze is sound, and relevant worked examples are provided. The only short-coming is perhaps the relative brevity of the end-of-chapter problems, for which no answers are provided, but, in such a textbook, I feel that it is not really necessary to work through them to gain a solid grasp of the material presented.

Physically, the book is much more attractive than the previous edition. The cover is more appealling, and the text is well set in a two-colour print. The diagrams are nothing special, but they are generally clear and explain their point well, and are certainly much improved from the first edition, especially those in the fabrication section.

Just a final comment on other reviews: it is difficult to see how this book may be regarded as a bible of any sort, for the material is covered in quite a superficial manner. I wonder if they are not mistaking it for the 'big Sze', viz., Sze's 'Physics of Semiconductor Devices', which is another, much larger and more comprehensive, work of Sze's.