Emerging Opportunities and Future Directions

In the previous nine chapters, the authors have attempted to provide the readers with topics ranging from the fundamentals of semiconductors to detailed discussions on the processing/synthesis, properties, and applications of current semiconductor materials, including group II–VI compounds, organic semiconductors, vanadium oxides, transition metal dichalcogenides, graphene -based materials, other miscellaneous semiconductors and related binary, ternary and quaternary compounds . This chapter summarizes and highlights the research opportunities reported in the recent literature and documented in the previous chapters. Vanadium dioxide (VO2) thin films have proved to be promising for electronic and photonic applications . 2D and 3D graphene -based materials have found applications in the production of fuel cells, supercapacitors, and photovoltaic devices. CdS and ZnS thin films, produced by chemical bath deposition (CBD), particularly the activation of ZnS films in situ doped with Cu and Mn, has paved the way for doping with other alternative elements. At the same time, this route poses some potential challenges on the environment, health and safety. Among the 14 crucial research areas identified and outlined in the “SIA SRC Vision Report” of 2017 [4], the following 3 topics, namely, (i) Advanced Devices, Materials, and Packaging, (ii) Innovative Metrology and Characterization, and (iii) Environmental Health and Safety : Materials and Processes, provide to some extent, first-hand guidance for the short-term research endeavors concerning materials science and engineering . The integration of experimental and computational approaches to semiconductor materials and their manufacturing is another window of opportunity. The few that are currently available reports are mostly on organic semiconductors . It is expected that, by bringing the topics into focus by all stakeholders, i.e., academicians, researchers, and industrialists, all efforts will coalesce into substantial social and economic benefits.