Solid State Electronic Devices

I would recommend this book for those upper-level undergraduates and graduate students who are studying this field of solid state electronics. I was familiar the Streetman's 3rd edition many years ago and this latest edition is dramatically expanded and improved. Considering how quickly technology develops, this book is reasonably current. There's a good amount of material on III-V semiconductors. One strong point of the this book is the large number of practice problems and a self-quiz at the end of each chapter. The problems are not simple but require some effort. There were a couple sections where the wording was a little confusing at first reading but this is minor.

If you are an EE sophomore/junior or senior and want to buy a book on semiconductor physics or devices that is both comprehensive in its depth and coverage of topics, I'd highly recommend this book. Its explanation of the working of FETs is very lucid and takes you all the way up to III-V HEMTs; similarly derivation of drift-diffusion/continuity equations for BJTs are explained in great detail and advanced devices like HBTs are also covered. Furthermore, if you are confused about energy band diagrams, this book is for you. Let me briefly compare it with other similar books: 1- Semiconductor devices --Physics and Technology, 2nd edition by S. M. Sze--Standard, very good, but a little advanced textbook on semiconductors. Its explanation of FETs working and its assoicated band diagrams is not very comprehensive. Semiconductor Devices: Physics and Technology, 2nd Edition 2- Semiconductor Device fundamentals by R. F. Peirret-- An excellent book on the fundamentals, especially concepts of band diagrams, but again I found its coverage of FET devices not as good as that of Streetman. Semiconductor Device Fundamentals 3- Physics of semiconductor devices by M. Shur-- Shur is an expert on III-V devices modelling and simulations, but for fundamentals of semiconductor devices I won't recommend this to a sophomore! Physics of Semiconductor Devices 4- Semiconductor Device Electronics by Grung-- An excellent book with very good coverage of FETs, but a little more advanced than Streetman. Its explanation of band diagrams and discussion on potential, voltage, electric field, capacitance and their inter-relationships is very intuitive and clear. Semiconductor-Device Electronics (Holt Rinehart and Winston Series in Electrical Engineering)

This is the BEST textbook on solid-state devices. I used this book in my undergraduate and even in graduate courses. This book is also helpful for any researchers on electronic devices. Students and engineers alike like to refer to this book pretty often as it explains many fundamental ideas in pn junctions which are at the heart of presen-day technology and carries on the concept up to MOS devices. This is not a reference book but it provides the basic training required to learn new devices. A made-easy version of this book is Neaman's text.

I used this book (4th Ed.) for the solid state device class at The University of Illinois (U-C), as a junior. Streetman offers excellent explanations and it is a great reference to me even now! While you have to read it a few times to fully grasp the subject, that is a function of the material and not the writing. When the 5th Ed. came out, I instantly went out and purchased it! The advanced device sections were updated, while the basics were left virtually untouched. In keeping with the original, Banerjee provides clear explanations of more recent phenomana - mainly in the MOSFET section. This came in handy studying for the qual!!!Personally, Streetman and Pierret are the only device books I need.

Dr. Ben G. Streetman, now Dean of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, has put together a thorough, yet understandable, introductory text to the important field of semiconductor devices. This book has been developed from his many years of teaching this subject to undergraduate and graduate students. The book proceeds from the basic physics of solid state junctions to the operation and electronic properties of advanced devices such as CMOS transistors and semiconductor lasers. Each section contains worked numerical examples, comprehensive review problems, and relevant citations for the reader who wishes to further investigate the subject matter. Streetman's conversational style works well with presenting sometimes difficult material in a very straightforward manner. You can almost picture yourself sitting in some Texas Hill Country barbecue restaurant, having Streetman explain the carrier behavior of a transistor under different biasing conditions, while having a plate of ribs and a few Shiner Bocks! The easy going style of this book does not diminish the depth of analysis of the material, and the reader comes away with a solid, functional understanding of the subject and is able to advance to more specialized texts. This book is also part of a teaching tool which includes lecture notes and worked solutions to problems making it a joy for first time professors teaching a course in this subject. This book is truly a classic and far surpasses its contemporaries in the field in terms of readability and its teaching power! Students will still be using this book (or some form of it) in one hundred years!