Customer Reviews

Semiconductor Physics And Devices

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I had the misfortune of using his Electronic Circuit Analysis book my sophomore year. I'm impressed - he's actually managed to write a book that is more worthless! The examples are poor and few and definitions of symbols and constants was almost nonexistent. Get yourself some note cards or you're going to lose hours of your life flipping through this waste of paper.

I own five different books on semiconductor physics and this text is by far the best. I've also references a sixth book.

I understand the other reviewers complaints but I think this is a weakness of all semiconductor books or proof of just how complicated device physics can get.

It helps to have an instructor step you through a lot of the derivations to make you understand the equations.

I like this book because it explains concepts very well. Making use of the equations and knowing when to make assumptions just comes with practice.

I've found a few mistakes but far fewer than some of the other books I've seen.

My advice to students studying semiconductors is to go to the library and get as many books as you can.

This is a really good introduction to the physics of semiconductor devices. It starts right from the basics of molecular structure and quantum mechanics and builds up from there. The only prerequisites needed are high school physics and chemistry, first-year calculus (second-year would help, but definitely isn't necessary), and basic knowledge of electronic circuits (knowledge of how diodes and transistors work in a circuit is not at all necessary).

In general this book proceeds in a logical fashion, neither too fast nor too slow. Sufficient detail is given to understand the topics quite fully, yet the reader isn't overwhelmed by detail. Important equations and results are highlighted and sections are divided and organized well. Many examples are given as well as problems after each section with answers provided (but no worked-through solutions). Chapter summaries are among the best I've ever seen in a textbook, and they are supplemented with a Definitions section and Checkpoint section (which is a list of questions meant to make the reader think about the chapter).

Something I don't like about the book is that it emphasizes "plug-and-chug" in most of its problems and examples. By this I mean that all that is needed to solve the problem is to find the right equation, put in the numbers, and produce a solution, often without much thought involved at all. Very few problems require a strong understanding of the material, and actually most would be quite possible for someone who knows nothing about the material by just making an educated guess as to which equation in the chapter would be needed to solve a particular problem.

I would recommend this book for a 1st- or 2nd-year physics or electronics engineering student, but mostly only if the student intends to pursue a career designing semiconductors at the physical level or researching them. For all other electronics, electrical, and computer engineers this book is slightly overkill and most engineers will probably never have to deal with the material that is covers. But, those engineers would probably find the material in this book interesting nevertheless.

Assuming you have already read the previous (rather low) reviews on here, my own review may seem like overkill, but I feel that I must express just how bad Neamen's book is at explaining the material.

Most other reviewers have already covered the important points, so I'll just develop on two that I find particularly unsettling (after wasting several hours trying to see how the author arrived at the solution for ONE problem in his book): How is anyone supposed to figure out the many assumptions this guy makes when he makes no mention of them anywhere else? Also, how is anyone supposed to know what equations to use in what problems?

So far I've found that all the answers in the back of the book have been correct, however the problem is that the reader has to first figure out what equation(s) to use, which is why I'd imagine that many readers believe the answers to be incorrect. In terms of what the author explains, there are (presumably) several ways of obtaining the same answer, but for some reason this is not the case, given that your answer will often be different depending on what equation you use. Assuming the author is even correct in using the formulas he uses, he offers no explanation as to why one equation should be used in one situation but not in another.

Also, this book makes entirely too many assumptions and offers no explanation as to where they come from. Case in point: Problem 1 of Chapter 5 asks the reader to determine the drift current density in a semiconductor material under a certain set of conditions. Well, this is all fine and dandy, except for the fact that the author provides an in-book example IDENTICAL to the problem in which the answer is DIFFERENT. So why do the example and problem answers differ? Because Neamen (in the problem)apparently arbitrarily assumed a different value for electron mobility in said semiconductor material, yet he did not not explain why this different value was assumed in the first place, nor did he offer any clear explanation as to how to determine the supposedly correct electron mobility.

In summary, this book would be somewhat decent if the author spent more time explaining the material more clearly. As it stands, there are simply too many assumptions made and too few explanations for them, making this book a very poor source of information.

There are some formulas which only appear in example problems and never in the text. The questions from the back are organized by subpart but frequently use parts of info "taught" in future subparts. There are some "standard values" listed in various tables which conflict both those posted in Wikipedia and the ones my instructor uses. The "use this chart to find the value on the curve" are tiny charts with low resolution and ridiculously unusable. The example problems never have units on them making it difficult to follow along. There are constants which are used in examples (and, worse, needed for book questions) which are never discussed at all.

But, hey, you don't have a choice, do you? So just go ahead and buy it.

Worst book I have come across in my college career. My only D EVER is from a professor that tried to follow this book. Many of his printed solutions to the problems in this book are vague with "Trial and Error" that yield no reasoning to how the problems should be solved.

It would take an excellent professor to make sense of Donald Neamen's, incomplete at best, work. If you don't want to take the word of the many posts of dislike for this book please feel free to read portions for yourself. And please try the wonderful incomplete problems (4 unknowns with 2 equations for example on Problem 4.4).

This is used for an upper division intro to semi's class at the Univ of MN-Duluth
This book is at best a poor text, but more likely it would be better with a reference book that actually went over the material, and used this as an overview.
I like what other students say about the answers in the back, "If you get that answer, you know your wrong."
Either the author doesn't really want the student to know how to do the material inside, wants an instructor to figure it out and teach it, or just doesn't care.
A poor purchase at 10% of the price.

Got the international edition. Same content so far, but not the hardback i'd expected. Good price though!

This book is used at the University of Washington for an upper level senior, lower level graduate course on semiconductor physics. I've found it a good for breakfast reading. It's a well organized and complete reference to many topics. There are lots of equation numbers and the important ones are boxed in blue (for those like that). Don't read cover to cover.