Reviews techniques that employ photons, electron beams, and x-rays to study the substrates, epilayers, and other semiconductor structures at the size relevant to large scale integration and reduced devices. Each of the eight chapters describes the operating principles of a specific technique, overviews its applications to semiconductor characterization problems, and identifies its possibilities and limitations. The techniques include photoluminescence imaging, micro- raman spectroscopy, near-field scanning optical microscopy, and x-ray topography. The last chapter explores selective chemical etching combined with different microscopic observation techniques. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)