CRYSTAL ENGINEERING IN ELECTRONIC MATERIALS.

The important electronic materials are broadly assessed from the point of view of current device advances and recent developments in materials technology. It is noted that the pace is set by silicon and that the compound semiconductors are handicapped by a lack of understanding of the point defects. The stimulation to materials research brought about by new device needs and by new instrumentation and how, in turn, new questions continue to be raised about how to grow crystals, are briefly discussed. A trend which can be described as crystal engineering, is noticeable. This new field envisages the capability of ordering the crystal structures in a sophisticated way in order to meet current device ambitions.