**Preface XI**


Preface

The framework of this book was developed in the search for a new demand for materials that would facilitate our advanced technologies in the twenty-first century. Today, technolo‐ gy has become a ubiquitous part of our lives and consequently a critical component of all areas of our life. People wake up with checking up their emails on their smartphones and go to work in their car that has lots of sensors such as collision detection, parking assistant, lane departure warning, and so on. With the help of rapidly growing artificial intelligence tech‐ nology, a self-driving autonomous car gives you the luxury to sit back in the car seat to get to the work. These sound like science fiction or movie scenes from a Hollywood blockbuster about the future but this is happening right now. Research and development of these tech‐ nologies are moving at lightning pace, which is attributed to the semiconductor technology. After the birth of semiconductor technology in 1947, it was heavily dominated by siliconbased semiconductor technology for more than 60 years. However, the limitation of silicon technology invited a number of researchers to search for other alternatives including germa‐ nium. At the beginning of internet-of-things era (IoT), more autonomous systems were im‐ plemented in every corner of our lives and this strongly demands faster and lower power

Germanium is an interesting material to explore in many applications. Although we rarely see them in our everyday life, they are embedded in many other applications where they play a critical role such as a main component of machines, tools, systems, instruments, and so on. The major applications for germanium are infrared optics, optical fibers, semiconduc‐ tor devices, catalysts, and nuclear radiation detectors. At the beginning of a postsilicon era, most experts expect developing applications with new material alternatives; in particular, germanium beyond silicon technologies would eventually lead to a new technology revolu‐

In the fast-moving age of digital knowledge, it is almost impossible to follow up with all the new technologies. Furthermore, synchronized with these new technologies, a market keeps changing and transforming on a nearly yearly basis as we spend more time on our mobiles, tablets, laptops, and newly introduced gadgets. In the center of these changes, we are excit‐ ed to present this book to readers in the belief that we can contribute to the process of deep‐

> **Prof. Sanghyun Lee, PhD** Indiana State University Terre Haute, Indiana, USA

semiconductor device applications to meet our needs.

tion in the coming centuries.

ening new knowledge.
