Advanced Semiconductor Fundamentals by Robert F. Pierret is the sixth volume in the Modular Series on Solid State Devices and amplifies on the material con- tained in volume 1, Semiconductor Fundamentals by the same author [1]. This volume was specifically designed to be presented in about fifteen fifty-minute lectures to beginning graduate students and advanced undergraduates in electrical engineering. It is currently being used during the first five weeks of a one-semester, three-credit-hour, first-year, graduate-level course at Purdue University. Another objective of this volume, as stated in the author’s foreword, is to provide the background information for other advanced level volumes. In particular it is intended to supplement the widely used graduate-level text by Sze [2]. Since the material in this volume is self contained, it is also useful for reference, review, or self-directed study by practicing engineers or scientists.

The book is divided into six chapters covering “Basic Semiconductor Proper- ties,” “Elements of Quantum Mechanics,” “Energy Band Theory,” “Equil- ibrium Carrier Statistics,” “Recombination-Generation Processes,” and “- Carrier Transport.” As a graduate-level text, the book is well written and con- cise. It follows a logical, tutorial sequence, and the equations are straight- forward for the reader to follow. Each chapter contains a section of references and additional reading material. The problem sets for each section reinforce the concepts presented in the text. The author seems to have accomplished his goal of providing supplemental background material for a beginning graduate-level course.

This book is also good as a refresher for practicing engineers. However, its limitations in this regard are more apparent. The choice of the material covered and the depth to which it is presented were clearly constrained by the need to cover the entire content in a portion of an academic semester. Although each chapter is self contained, the book as a whole is intended to provide supplemental material. Hence, the book should be considered for rounding out the library of a practicing engineer rather than as an alternative to the existing classical texts, such as that by Sze.