This book deals with microwave electronics, that is to say those components of microwave circuits that generate, amplify, detect or modulate signals. It is based on a course given in the Electrical Engineering Department of Eindhoven University since 1985 and on about twenty years of experience in the microwave field. Somewhat to my surprise I found that there were hardly any textbooks that addressed the specific properties and demands of microwave devices, including vacuum devices and their interactions with circuits. Numerous books exist on semiconductor electronic devices, dealing in an excellent way with the basic device physics, but being somewhat brief on typical micro­ wave aspects. On the other hand there are also many books that concentrate on electromagnetic theory and passive circuits, treating devices without reference to the underlying physics. In between there are some entirely devoted to a particular device, for example, the GaAs MESFET. With regard to tubes the situation is even worse: books that treat the basic principles are usually quite old and modern books often concentrate on specific devices, like high power tubes. So it seems that there is room for a book like this one. Its aim is to provide an elementary understanding ofmicrowave electronic devices, both vacuum and semiconductor, on the one hand in relation to the basic physics underlying their operation and on the other in relation to their circuit applications.