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Rapid thermal and integrated processing is an emerging single-wafer technology in ULSI semiconductor manufacturing, electrical engineering, applied physics and materials science. Here, the physics and engineering of this technology are discussed at the graduate level. Three interrelated areas are covered. First, the thermophysics of photon-induced annealing of semiconductor and related materials, including fundamental pyrometry and emissivity issues, the modelling of reactor designs and processes, and their relation to temperature uniformity. Second, process integration, treating the advances in basic equipment design, scale-up, integrated cluster-tool equipment, including wafer cleaning and integrated processing. Third, the deposition and processing of thin epitaxial, dielectric and metal films, covering selective deposition and epitaxy, integrated processing of layer stacks, and new areas of potential application, such as the processing of III-V semiconductor structures and thin- film head processing for high-density magnetic data storage.

What is a supermaterial? A concise definition is by no means obvious, but a clue can be obtained from the topics discussed here.. In addition to superconductors, the reader will encounter magnetic effects of many kinds, including giant and even colossal ones, organic conductors, photoconductors, and even 400-year-old Japanese ceramics. Processing is a prominent pursuit in supermaterials research, especially but not exclusively of the superconductors. The papers on characterisation and theory break new ground, particularly in pursuit of new optoelectronic phenomena. The parade of new materials recently synthesised, often containing four or more elements, is surprising. But it is in it reporting of new applications that the book stands out: from circuits to sensors, supermaterials are making their impact on society.

Silicon dioxide plays a central role in most contemporary electronic and photonic technologies, from fiber optics for communications and medical applications to metal-oxide-semiconductor devices. Many of these applications directly involve point defects, which can either be introduced during the manufacturing process or by exposure to ionizing radiation. They can also be deliberately created to exploit new technologies. This book provides a general description of the influence that point defects have on the global properties of the bulk material and their spectroscopic characterization through ESR and optical spectroscopy.