Introduction

Abstract

The 20th century saw the appearance of many new man-made materials, of which many never existed on earth before either in quantity or quality. Apart from purified radioactive elements used in atomic weapons or nuclear fission reactors and the petroleum derived polymer chemistry, semiconductor material sciences are among the most defining technologies shaping the later half of the last century [ELI14]. They not only gave rise to solar cells, diodes, LEDs and super-sensitive photodetectors, but grew to become the backbone of modern information technology since the first fabrication of a transistor by Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain in 1948. Silicon based microchips and controllers are used in smartphones, TVs, cars, planes, and even satellites and are therefore virtually omnipresent in our every day lives.