This article presents an overview of the electric and magnetic parameters and discusses the significance of these parameters for electronic applications. It describes the components of analog and digital electronic circuits. The article reviews the augmenting technologies: magnetic and special technologies such as electrooptical.

Ceramic materials serve important insulative, capacitive, conductive, resistive, sensor, electrooptic, and magnetic functions in a wide variety of electrical and electronic circuitry. This article focuses on various applications of advanced ceramics in both electric power and electronics industry, namely, dielectric, piezoelectric, ferroelectric, sensing, magnetic and superconducting devices.

Gallium-base components can be found in a variety of products ranging from compact disk players to advanced military electronic warfare systems, owing to the factor that it can emit light, has a greater resistance to radiation and operates at faster speeds and higher temperatures. This article discusses the uses of gallium in optoelectronic devices and integrated circuits and applications of gallium. The article discusses the properties and grades of gallium arsenide and also provides information on resources of gallium. The article talks about the recovery techniques, including recovery from bauxite, zinc ore and secondary recovery process and purification. The article briefly describes the fabrication process of gallium arsenide crystals. Furthermore, the article gives a short note on world supply and demand of gallium and concludes with research and development on gallium arsenide integrated circuits.

This article describes the vapor-phase growth techniques applied to the epitaxial deposition of semiconductor films and discusses the fundamental processes involved in metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). It reviews the thermodynamics that determine the driving force behind the overall growth process and the kinetics that define the rates at which the various processes occur. The article provides information on the reactor systems and hardware, MOCVD starting materials, engineering considerations that optimize growth, and the growth parameters for a variety of Group III-V, II-VI, and IV semiconductors.

This article provides an overview of the types, properties, and applications of traditional and advanced ceramics and glasses. Principal product areas for traditional ceramics include whitewares, glazes, porcelain enamels, structural clay products, cements, and refractories. Advanced ceramics include electronic ceramics, optical ceramics, magnetic ceramics, and structural ceramics.

Germanium is a semiconducting metalloid element found in Group IV A. Germanium is used in the field of electronics, infrared optics, and in the fields of gamma ray spectroscopy, catalysis, and fiber optics. This article discusses the sources, manufacturing, and processing of germanium, and focuses on the chemical properties of various germanium compounds, including germanium halides, germanates, germanides, germanes, inorganic, and organogermanium compounds. It also tabulates the physical, thermal, electronic, and optical properties of germanium, and explains the economical aspects and specifications of germanium. The article describes the analytical and test methods of germanium, including gravimetric method, titrimetric method, and spectral method. It provides a short note on toxicology, and concludes with the uses of germanium in different fields.

Thermal spray processes involve complete or partial melting of a feedstock material in a high-temperature flame, and propelling and depositing the material as a coating on a substrate. This article describes the properties of sprayed electronic materials, including dielectrics, conductors, and resistors, and discusses their implications and associated limitations for device applications and potential remedial measures. The article presents specific examples of electrical/electronic device applications, including electromagnetic interference/radio-frequency interference shielding, planar microwave devices, waveguide devices, sensing devices, solid oxide fuel cells, heating elements, electrodes for capacitors and other electrochemical devices.

This article provides an overview of the implementation of wire embedding with ultrasonic energy and thermal embedding for polymer additive manufacturing, discussing the applications and advantages of the technique. The mechanical and electrical performance of the embedded wires is compared with that of other conductive ink processes in terms of electrical conductivity and mechanical strength.

The overall chemical composition of metals and alloys is most commonly determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and optical emission spectroscopy (OES), and combustion and inert gas fusion analysis. This article provides information on the capabilities, uses, detection threshold and precision methods, and sample requirements. The amount of material that needs to be sampled, operating principles, and limitations of the stated methods are also discussed.

This article discusses the ferromagnetic properties of soft magnetic materials, explaining the effects of impurities, alloying elements, heat treatment, grain size, and grain orientation on soft magnetic materials. It describes the types of soft magnetic materials, which include high-purity iron, low-carbon irons, silicon (electrical) steels, nickel-iron alloys, iron-cobalt alloys, ferritic stainless steels, amorphous metals, and ferrites (ceramics). Finally, the article provides a short note on alloys for magnetic temperature compensation.

Machine vision, also referred to as computer vision or intelligent vision, is a means of simulating the image recognition and analysis capabilities of the human eye and brain system with digital techniques. The machine vision functionality is extremely useful in inspection, supervision, and quality control applications. This article presents a variety of machine vision functions for different purposes and provides a comparison of machine and human vision capabilities in a table. It discusses the processes of a machine vision system: image acquisition, image preprocessing, image analysis, and image interpretation. The article provides information on the uses of machine vision systems in three categories of manufacturing applications: visual inspection, identification of parts, and guidance and control applications.

This article reviews the main theoretical and practical aspects of sequence normally followed in digital image-acquisition, processing, analysis, and output for material characterization. It discusses the main methods of digital imaging, image processing, and analysis, as applied to microscopy of materials. The article describes the basic concepts of sampling and resolution and quantization of light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. It discusses the acquisition of a digital image that accurately represents the sample under observation and output of the image to a printer. The methods used to enhance the digital image and to extract quantitative information are also described. Different types of image segmentation, namely, adaptive segmentation and contour-based segmentation, are reviewed. The article also presents case studies on the application of image processing and analysis to materials characterization.

This article demonstrates the depth and breadth of commercial and third-party software packages available to simulate metals processes. It provides a representation of the spectrum of applications from simulation of atomic-level effects to manufacturing optimization. The article tabulates the software name, function or process applications, vendor or developer, and website information.

This article provides detailed information on the instrumentation and principles of the scanning electron microscope (SEM). It begins with a description of the primary components of a conventional SEM instrument. This is followed by a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of the SEM compared with other common microscopy and microanalysis techniques. The following sections cover the critical issues regarding sample preparation, the physical principles regarding electron beam-sample interaction, and the mechanisms for many types of image contrast. The article also presents the details of SEM-based techniques and specialized SEM instruments. It ends with example applications of various SEM modes.

Surface modification is the alteration of the surface composition or structure using energy or particle beams. This article discusses two different surface modification methods. The first, ion implantation, is the introduction of ionized species into the substrate using kilovolt to megavolt ion accelerating potentials. The second method, laser processing, is high-power laser melting with or without mixing of materials precoated on the substrate, followed by rapid melt quenching. The article also describes the advantages and disadvantages of the surface modification approach to promote corrosion resistance.

This article is intended to provide the reader with a good understanding of the underlying science, technology, and the most common applications of focused ion beam (FIB) instruments. It begins with a survey of the various types of FIB instruments and their configurations, discusses the essential components, and explains their function only to the extent that it helps the operator obtain the desired results. An explanation of how the components of ion optical column shape and steer the ion beam to the desired target locations is then provided. The article also reviews the many diverse accessories and options that enable the instrument to realize its full potential across all of the varied applications. This is followed by a detailed analysis of the physical processes associated with the ion beam interacting with the sample. Finally, a complete survey of the most prominent FIB applications is presented.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has shown various significant improvements since it first became available in 1965. These improvements include enhanced resolution, dependability, ease of operation, and reduction in size and cost. This article provides a detailed account of the instrumentation and principles of SEM, broadly explaining its capabilities in resolution and depth of field imaging. It describes three additional functions of SEM, including the use of channeling patterns to evaluate the crystallographic orientation of micron-sized regions; use of backscattered detectors to reveal grain boundaries on unetched samples and domain boundaries in ferromagnetic alloys; and the use of voltage contrast, electron beam-induced currents, and cathodoluminescence for the characterization and failure analysis of semiconductor devices. The article compares the features of SEM with that of scanning Auger microscopes, and lists the applications and limitations of SEM.

This article discusses the basic principles of and chemical effects in Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), covering various factors affecting the quantitative analyses of AES. The discussion covers instrumentation and sophisticated electronics typically used in AES for data acquisition and manipulation and various limitations of AES. Various examples highlighting the capabilities of the technique are also included.

This article provides an introduction to x-ray spectrometry, and discusses the role of electromagnetic radiation, x-ray emission, and x-ray absorption. It focuses on the instrumentation of wavelength-dispersive x-ray spectrometers, and energy dispersive x-ray spectrometers (EDS) that comprise x-ray tubes, the analyzing system, and detectors. The fundamentals of EDS operation are described. The article also provides useful information on preparation of various samples, explaining the qualitative and quantitative analyses of EDS. It reviews the applications of the x-ray spectrometry.