Doped and undoped polycrystalline silicon films were grown byapcvd and thermal evaporation techniques. The effect of growth and annealing conditions on the crystalline nature of the films and their properties were studied by electrical, optical, x-ray diffraction andsem techniques. Metal silicides such as TiSi₂ and PtSi₂ were prepared by co-evaporation technique over polysilicon layers to study their suitability in microelectronic applications. Some of the properties of polysilicon and silicides are discussed.

The differential microwave absorption is studied in the field-cooled samples. Flux-trapping during field-cooling is clearly demonstrated. Glassy behaviour starts appearing for fields greater than the lower intergranular critical field revealed by the difference between field-cooled and zero-field-cooled cases. Results can be understood in terms of super-conducting cluster model.

Low-field differential microwave absorption has been studied for hafnium-doped Y-Ba-Cu-O at the first harmonic of modulation field. The effect of modulation amplitude on peak height, peak position and the area under hysteresis curve has been discussed.

In_xGa_1−xAs (0·06≤x≤0·35) epilayers were grown on GaAs substrates by atmospheric pressure metal organic chemical vapour deposition technique. Surface morphology and lattice mismatch in the InGaAs/GaAs films of different compositions were studied. Cross-hatched patterns were observed on the surface of the epilayers for bulk alloy composition up tox≈0·25. Forx>0·3, a rough textured surface morphology was observed.