Raman Characterization Of Semiconductors Revisited

We review a number of recent significant developments in the use of Raman scattering (first-order as well as second-order) to characterize semiconductors in bulk, thin film or device form. Areas to be discussed include microcrystalline and amorphous tetrahedrally bonded solids (particularly Si), ion-damage and laser-annealing effects, microscopic nature of potential fluctuations in alloy semiconductors (including single crystal metastable materials), determination of the composition dependence of conduction band effective mass and scattering times, HgCdTe and CdTe, zone-folding in superlattices, correlation of light scattering and transport properties in quantum well structures, interfaces (including semiconductor/vacuum, Schottky barriers, MOS, heterojunctions) and determination of strains (including temperature dependence) at the interface of Si on various substrates.