The pervasive role of defects in determining the thermal, mechanical, electrical, optical, and magnetic properties of materials is biblical. Thermodynamic control of imperfection under equilibrium conditions dictates, for instance, the high temperatures needed to raise defect content for diffusion processes. Nonequilibrium treatments, such as work hardening, are used to control dislocation and grain boundary density and morphology to enhance mechanical properties. Both approaches represent the practice of defect engineering. Both are examples of a synergistic interaction between science and engineering in which an existing knowledge base is applied to its limits, stirring the development of new knowledge and new applications.

The purpose of this article is to convey the flavor of the defect engineering culture. The invention of the transistor can be traced to a triumph of defect engineering. Original explorations of semiconductor materials had the goal of controlling surface rectification properties to devise rectifiers, oscillators, and amplifier substitutes for vacuum tube counterparts. Schottky barriers, p-n junctions and metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors—the products of the endeavor—are now the building blocks of today's microcircuits. The commercial success of these applications has fueled a boom in materials physics research during the last two decades. The work-hardening knowledge base can be traced from the Japanese swordmaking ritual to the discovery of dislocations (in theory first, and then by direct observation). Expansion of the dislocation knowledge base was a dominating concern in materials science prior to the transistor. As shown in this article, these two disparate areas are essential components of the defect engineer's tool kit.