Books are seldom finished. At best, they are abandoned. The second edition of "Electronic Properties of Materials" has been in use now for about seven years. During this time my publisher gave me ample opportunities to update and improve the text whenever the Ibook was reprinted. There were about six of these reprinting cycles. Eventually, however, it became clear that substantially more new material had to be added to account for the stormy developments which occurred in the field of electrical, optical, and magnetic materials. In particular, expanded sections on flat-panel displays (liquid crystals, electroluminescence devices, field emission displays, and plasma dis. : plays) were added. Further, the recent developments in blue- and green emitting LED''s and in photonics are included. Magnetic storage devices also underwent rapid development. Thus, magneto-optical memories, magneto resistance devices, and new'' magnetic materials needed to be covered. The sections on dielectric properties, ferroelectricity, piezoelectricity, electrostric tion, and thermoelectric properties have been expanded. Of course, the entire text was critically reviewed, updated, and improved. However, the most extensive change I undertook was the conversion of all equations to SI units throughout. In most of the world and in virtually all of the interna tional scientific journals use of this system of units is required. If today''s students do not learn to utilize it, another generation is "lost" on this matter. In other words, it is important that students become comfortable with SI units.
