This book discusses small semiconductor systems and the effect of the size and shape on their thermodynamic and optoelectronic properties at the mesoscopic and nanoscopic level. It considers individual nanometric crystallites, nanocrystalline films, and nanowires of which the thermodynamic, structural, and optical properties are covered in detail.

Sergio Pizzini started his carrier at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra (Italy) and later in Petten (Nederland), committed to studies of a fuel for a molten salt reactor, within a Joint Program with the Oak Ridge Centre in USA. After leaving the Commission he joined the University of Milano as Associated Professor, where he started basic studies on solid electrolytes, which also resulted in the realization of a prototype of a solid electrolyte gas sensor and of a solid state sensor for the determination of the stoichiometry of nuclear oxide fuels. Still maintaining his position at the University, he worked for five years as Director of the Materials Department of the Corporate Research Centre of Montedison in Novara, where he launched a number of new R&D activities on advanced materials for electronics. After having left Montedison he founded the Heliosil Company, where as its CEO he studied a process for the production of solar grade silicon and patented a furnace and a process for the directional solidification of silicon in multicrystalline ingots. In 1982 he left any outside duty for serving the University of Milano, and later, the University of Milano-Bicocca, as full Professor of Physical Chemistry. In this last period of activity, in addition to his teaching and management duties, he carried out systematic studies on semiconductor silicon, mostly addressed at the understanding of electronic and optical properties of point and extended defects of Czochralski, multicrystalline and nanocrystalline silicon in the frame of national and European Projects.

Sergio Pizzini is author of more than 250 technical papers published in international Journals. He authored or co-authored four books and was Chairman or Co-Chairman of a number of international symposia in the materials science field. After his retirement, he serves the University of Milano-Bicocca with an external cooperation.

Chapter 1 Basic Physico-Chemical Concepts and Potential Applications of Nanosized Semiconductors Chapter 2 Physics and Thermodynamics of Nanostructures Chapter 3 Preparation, Structural, and Physical Properties of Nanocrystalline Silicon, Germanium, and Diamond Nanocrystals, Films, and Nanowires Chapter 4 Preparation, Structural, and Physical Properties of Nanocrystalline Dots, Films, and Nanowires of Compound Semiconductors Chapter 5 Optical Signatures of Defects in Semiconductor Nanostructures