This volume is intended to orient the reader in the fast developing field of semiconductor nanowires, by providing a series of self-contained monographs focusing on various nanowire-related topics. Each monograph serves as a short review of previous results in the literature and description of methods used in the field, as well as a summary of the authors recent achievements on the subject. Each report provides a brief sketch of the historical background behind, the physical and/or chemical principles underlying a specific nanowire fabrication/characterization technique, or the experimental/theoretical methods used to study a given nanowire property or device. Despite the diverse topics covered, the volume does appear as a unit. The writing is generally clear and precise, and the numerous illustrations provide an easier understanding of the phenomena described. The volume contains 20 Chapters covering altogether many (although not all) semiconductors of technological interest, starting with the IV-IV group compounds (SiC and SiGe), carrying on with the binary and ternary compounds of the III-V (GaAs, AlGaAs, GaSb, InAs, GaP, InP, and GaN) and II-VI (HgTe, HgCdTe) families, the metal oxides (CuO, ZnO, ZnCoO, tungsten oxide, and PbTiO3), and finishing with Bi (a semimetal).