Topic: Microstructure and Device Physics of Emerging Semiconductor Devices: Interfaces, Defects, Thermal Transport and Reliability

This Special Issue focuses on the coupling between microstructure and device physics in emerging semiconductor devices, with particular emphasis on how interfaces, defects, local electric fields, thermal transport, ion migration and strain collectively influence device performance, stability and failure mechanisms. With the rapid development of wide-bandgap and ultrawide-bandgap semiconductors, oxide semiconductors, halide perovskites, two-dimensional semiconductors and heterogeneous integrated devices, device performance is no longer determined solely by ideal band structures and intrinsic material properties. Instead, it strongly depends on real device features, including interfacial structures, defect distributions, local potential landscapes, heat dissipation pathways and coupled multi-field dynamic processes. Therefore, establishing cross-scale correlations among microstructure, local physical processes and macroscopic device performance is essential for understanding the operating mechanisms of emerging semiconductor devices and for improving their performance and reliability.

This Special Issue aims to gather recent advances in microstructural characterization, device physics, transport measurements, in situ/operando microscopy, advanced spectroscopy and theoretical modeling. It seeks to promote a deeper understanding of key issues in semiconductor devices from the perspectives of atomic-scale structure, defect evolution, local field distribution and coupled transport processes. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, carrier transport and recombination, interfacial band alignment, defect states and traps, coupled charge/ion/phonon transport, thermal management, device degradation and failure mechanisms.