basics
Examples
In solid state physics, a semiconductor is a crystalline material for which the electron chemical potential lies in a small gap between a valence band and a conduction band.
This means that a semi-conductor behaves like an insulator unless a little extra energy is supplied to lift the electrons out of the valence bundle into the conduction bundle, in which case it starts behaving like a conductor (or metal).
This “external switching” of electron conductivity in semi-conductors is the basis of transistors? and hence of digital computers?.
Monographs:
Karlheinz Seeger, Semiconductor Physics, Advanced texts in physics, Springer (2004) [doi:10.1007/978-3-662-09855-4]
Sheng San Li (ed.), Semiconductor Physical Electronics, Springer (2006) [doi:10.1007/0-387-37766-2_4]
See also:
On doping semiconductors into superconductors:
On semiconductor heterojunctions (such as based on gallium arsenide), where electrons are confined to move inside an effectively 2-dimensional plane:
Guy Allan, Michel Lannoo, Gérald Bastard, Michel Voos, Nino Boccara (eds.): Heterojunctions and Semiconductor Superlattices, Proceedings of the Winter School Les Houches, France, March 12–21, 1985, Springer (1986) [doi:10.1007/978-3-642-71010-0]
F. Stern: Electrons in Heterojunctions, in: Heterojunctions and Semiconductor Superlattices, Springer (1986) 38–47 [doi:10.1007/978-3-642-71010-0_3, pdf]
On the fractional quantum Hall effect (see there for more) at such semiconductor heterojunctions:
Horst L. Störmer: Pictures of the Fractional Quantized Hall Effect, in: Heterojunctions and Semiconductor Superlattices, Springer (1986) 50-63 [doi:10.1007/978-3-642-71010-0_4, pdf]
Zlatko Papić, Ajit C. Balram: Fractional quantum Hall effect in semiconductor systems, Encyclopedia of Condensed Matter Physics 2nd ed 1 (2024) 285-307 [doi:10.1016/B978-0-323-90800-9.00007-X, arXiv:2205.03421]
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