ABSTRACT

In the last years photoacoustic and photothermal methods have reached a great development and given rise to a large number of applications in different research fields. In the field of materials and in particular of semiconductors, the investigation techniques which have been are carried out are of great interest and highly competitive with respect to traditional techniques.

In this paper the physical principles of photoacoustic and photothermal phenomena are introduced and a review of the most important applications in the field of semiconductors is presented. In particular results of measurements of optical absorption spectra, thermal properties and electronic transport properties are described and discussed.