Radiation sensitivity and amorphous materials, present and future

Amorphous forms of semiconductors and insulators are increasingly used in various electronic devices and in other technologically advanced materials such as laser hosts and light guides. These devices will sometimes be required to retain their performance while under heavy irradiation by high energy particles and photons. With a view to guiding future physical research, the impact of such irradiation on the functional properties of amorphous materials in a wide range of practical applications is reviewed systematically. After defining some environments, a list of about sixty classes of electronic and optical devices is broken down into sub-elements and the occurrence, role and irradiation problems of the amorphous sub-elements are discussed and analysed as well as the more general problems of producing tolerance to radiation in devices. The detailed analysis leads to a set of balanced recommendations for future physical research on the amorphous state in fields which will support the development of a radiation-tolerant device technology.