INTRODUCTION

Semiconductors form the basis of most modern information processing devices. Electronic devices such as diodes, bipolar junction transistors, and field effect transistors drive modern electronic technology. Optoelectronic devices such as laser diodes, modulators, and detectors drive the optical networks. In addition to devices, semiconductor structures have provided the stages for exploring questions of fundamental physics. Quantum Hall effect and other phenomena associated with many-body effects and low dimensions have been studied in semiconductor structures.

It is important to recognize that the ability to examine fundamental physics issues and to use semiconductors in state of the art device technologies depends critically on the purity and perfection of the semiconductor crystal. Semiconductors are often associated with clean rooms and workers clad in “bunny suits” lest the tiniest stray particle get loose and latch onto the wafer being processed. Indeed, semiconductor structures can operate at their potential only if they can be grown with a high degree of crystallinity and if impurities and defects can be controlled. For high structural quality it is essential that a high quality substrate be available. This requires growth of bulk crystals which are then sliced and polished to allow epitaxial growth of thin semiconductor regions including heterostructures.

In this chapter we start with a brief discussion of the important bulk and epitaxial crystal growth techniques. We then discuss the important semiconductor crystal structures. We also discuss strained lattice structures and the strain tensor for such crystals.