Amorphous silicon – From doping to multi-billion dollar applications

In this paper, we recount the history leading up to the landmark paper by Spear and LeComber in 1975, which showed, contrary to thought at the time, that it was indeed possible to incorporate substitutionally pentavalent and trivalent impurities into a tetrahedral amorphous semiconductor. This work provided the basis for a multi-billion dollar business with products which are ubiquitous.