This bookis intended to be of assistance to the physicist or engineer concerned with designing and building electron devices such as high-vacuum transmitter- or amplifier tubes, gas- or vapor-filled rectifiers, thyratrons, X-ray or luminescent tubes, glow or incandescent lamps, Geiger- or ionization counters, vacuum photo cells, photoconductive cells, selenium-, germanium- or silicon rectifiers or trans istors. For this purpose, extensive information is required concerning the compo sition, behavior and handling of materials as well as a thorough knowledge of high-vacuum technique necessary for processing electron devices after their assembly. The text covers the preparation and working of materials used in these devices; the finishing methods for vacuum tubes (especially degassing, pumping and getter procedures); and different production steps of solid state devices. This book contains about 2300 references indicated in the text by the author's name and reference number. At the end of each chapter the references themselves are listed alphabetically by the author's name and with the title sometimes abbreviated. In accordance with the purpose of the book, "first" publications are quoted only when they contain up-to-date-knowledge of the subject in question. Patents are treated as references. The quotation of a patent gives only a hint of the technical details described there. Mentioning, or not mentioning, a patent does not imply a statement concerning its importance or validity or warning against imitation. Expired patents are named in addition to ones still valid.