This textbook describes the basic physics of semiconductors, including the hierarchy of transport models, and connects the theory with the functioning of actual semiconductor devices. Details are worked out carefully and derived from the basic physical concepts, while keeping the internal coherence of the analysis and explaining the different levels of approximation. Coverage includes the main steps used in the fabrication process of integrated circuits: diffusion, thermal oxidation, epitaxy, and ion implantation. Examples are based on silicon due to its industrial importance. Several chapters are included that provide the reader with the quantum-mechanical concepts necessary for understanding the transport properties of crystals. The behavior of crystals incorporating a position-dependent impurity distribution is described, and the different hierarchical transport models for semiconductor devices are derived (from the Boltzmann transport equation to the hydrodynamic and drift-diffusion models). The transport models are then applied to a detailed description of the main semiconductor-device architectures (bipolar, MOS, CMOS), including a number of solid-state sensors. The final chapters are devoted to the measuring methods for semiconductor-device parameters, and to a brief illustration of the scaling rules and numerical methods applied to the design of semiconductor devices.
Massimo Rudan received a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1973 and a degree in Physics in 1976, both from the University of Bologna, Italy. His research interests are in the field of physics of carrier transport and numerical analysis of semiconductor devices. In 1986, he was a visiting scientist, on a one-year assignment, at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center at Yorktown Heights, NY, studying the discretization techniques for the higher-order moments of the Boltzmann Transport Equation.
From 1979, he has been teaching annual courses in the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Bologna, firstly as Lecturer and then as Associate Professor. In 1990, he became Full Professor of Microelectronics at the University of Bologna. An IEEE Fellow (2008) and Life Fellow (2014), M.R. is author, coauthor or editor of 12 books, and has authored or coauthored about 250 technical papers published in major journals, or presented in international conferences, in the fields of electronics, solid-state physics, and solid-state sensors.
M.R. has coordinated several research projects funded by the European Commission, international Companies and Foundations, the National Council of Research, and the National Ministry of University and Research. In 2001, he was one of the founders of the Advanced Research Center for Electronic Systems (ARCES) of the University of Bologna.
