The seventh edition of this classic text illustrates the fundamentals of the electrical properties of materials in the context of contemporary engineering applications. Written in an informal, accessible style, it emphasizes the core ideas relevant to understanding the subject and deliberately keeps the mathematical treatment simple. The book presents the simplest model that can display the essential properties of a phenomenon and examines it, showing the difference between ideal and actual behavior. Topics are selected so that the operation of devices having applications (or possible future applications) in engineering can be explained. Problems and worked examples are included throughout. Features of the Seventh Edition BLPresents a comprehensive treatment of light emitting diodes, which are rapidly replacing classical lighting sources BLCovers new topics such as organic material (including various polymers) and artificial materials (including photonic gap materials and metamaterials) BLProvides insight into cutting-edge fields such as amorphous semiconductors and nanotechnology BLDiscusses new devices including nanotube transistors, single electron transistors, magnetic tunnel junctions, quantum cascade lasers, and ferroelectric and superconducting memories.