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Provides a thorough understanding of the chemistry and physics of defects, enabling the reader to manipulate them in the engineering of materials. Reinforces theoretical concepts by placing emphasis on real world processes and applicationns. The most common method used for synthesizing inorganic solids is the so-called 'ceramic method' which involves synthesizing at elevated temperatures and leads to thermodynamically stable phases. This method has a serious limitation because many inorganic solids of current interest are rather metastable and consequently their preparation requires low temperature methods. In this article, we have reported some methods of synthesis which also include methods that belong to soft- chemistry routes. Some inorganic solids consist of atoms bonded by strong chemical bonds. These are called covalent solids. Every atom in crystals of diamond, silicon, germanium, and non-metallic tin is bonded to four neighbouring atoms via strong covalent bonds. Elements of this group are typical semiconductors. Every silicon atom in quartz, empirical formula Si0,, is bonded to four oxygen atoms, and every oxygen atom is bonded to two silicon atoms. Thus, quartz is also a covalent solid. This book is written to meet the needs of teachers of advanced undergraduate and graduata courses and of researchers in the various disciplines that make up the field of materials sciences.
