Book excerpt: The aim of this book is a discussion, at the introductory level, of some applications of solid state physics. The book evolved from notes written for a course offered three times in the Department of Physics of the University of California at Berkeley. The objects of the course were (a) to broaden the knowledge of graduate students in physics, especially those in solid state physics; (b) to provide a useful course covering the physics of a variety of solid state devices for students in several areas of physics; (c) to indicate some areas of research in applied solid state physics. To achieve these ends, this book is designed to be a survey of the physics of a number of solid state devices. As the italics indicate, the key words in this description are physics and survey. Physics is a key word because the book stresses the basic qualitative physics of the applications, in enough depth to explain the essentials of how a device works but not deeply enough to allow the reader to design one. The question emphasized is how the solid state physics of the application results in the basic useful property of the device. An example is how the physics of the tunnel diode results in a negative dynamic resistance. Specific circuit applications of devices are mentioned, but not emphasized, since expositions are available in the elec trical engineering textbooks given as references.