This book sets out the fundamental quantum processes that are important in the physics and technology of semiconductors in a relatively informal style that graduate students will find very attractive. The fifth edition includes new chapters that expand the coverage of semiconductor physics relevant to its accompanying technology. One of the problems encountered in high-power transistors is the excessive production of phonons and the first new chapter examines the hot-phonon phenomenon and the lifetime of polar optical phonons in the nitrides. In the burgeoning field of spintronics a crucial...

Can science explain everything? Brian Ridley, a physicist himself, explores this question and more in this compelling exploration of both the scope and limits of science. Tracing back to the roots of scientific thinking in a world of 'magical ideas', he argues that science shares more with magic than we are often led to believe.
The book also explores the often overlooked relationship between science and mathematics and the uneasy relationship between the two. This is neatly linked to a fascinating discussion of relativity and quantum theory, reminding us of the many perspectives on offer...