Horizons for new semiconducting materials*

The properties of existing semiconductors limit performance in a whole range of devices and leave many interesting potential applications (e.g. for lighting, power generation or air‐conditioning) possible in principle but technologically impracticable. Better properties, then, could be valuable. They could be obtained in two ways, by discovering new materials (a long‐range option apt for academic investigation) or by modifying existing materials either chemically (e.g. by forming solid solutions, perhaps of highly unconventional type) and/or physically (e.g. by low dimensional confinement effects). These options are reviewed and some of their implications explored.