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Molecular Beam Epitaxy
Molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) is an epitaxy method for thin-film deposition of single crystals. MBE is widely used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, including transistors. MBE is used to make diodes and MOSFETs (MOS field-effect transistors) at microwave frequencies, and to manufacture the lasers used to read optical discs (such as CDs and DVDs). History The original ideas of the MBE process were first established by K. G. Günther. Films that he deposited were not epitaxial, but were deposited on glass substrates. With the development of vacuum technology, the MBE process was demonstrated by John Davey and Titus Pankey who succeeded in growing GaAs epitaxial films on single crystal GaAs substrates using Günther's method. Major subsequent development of MBE films was enabled by J.R. Arthur's investigations of kinetic behavior of growth mechanisms and Alfred Y. Cho's in situ observation of MBE process using reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epitaxy
Epitaxy (prefix ''epi-'' means "on top of”) is a type of crystal growth or material deposition in which new crystalline layers are formed with one or more well-defined orientations with respect to the crystalline seed layer. The deposited crystalline film is called an epitaxial film or epitaxial layer. The relative orientation(s) of the epitaxial layer to the seed layer is defined in terms of the orientation of the crystal lattice of each material. For most epitaxial growths, the new layer is usually crystalline and each crystallographic domain of the overlayer must have a well-defined orientation relative to the substrate crystal structure. Epitaxy can involve single-crystal structures, although grain-to-grain epitaxy has been observed in granular films. For most technological applications, single-domain epitaxy, which is the growth of an overlayer crystal with one well-defined orientation with respect to the substrate crystal, is preferred. Epitaxy can also play an important ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In Situ
is a Latin phrase meaning 'in place' or 'on site', derived from ' ('in') and ' ( ablative of ''situs'', ). The term typically refers to the examination or occurrence of a process within its original context, without relocation. The term is used across many disciplines to denote methods, observations, or interventions carried out in their natural or intended environment. By contrast, ' methods involve the removal or displacement of materials, specimens, or processes for study, preservation, or modification in a controlled setting, often at the cost of contextual integrity. The earliest known use of ''in situ'' in the English language dates back to the mid-17th century. In scientific literature, its usage increased from the late 19th century onward, initially in medicine and engineering. The natural sciences typically use methods to study phenomena in their original context. In geology, field analysis of soil composition and rock formations provides direct insights into Earth' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evaporative Deposition
Evaporation is a common method of thin-film deposition. The source material is evaporated in a vacuum. The vacuum allows vapor particles to travel directly to the target object (substrate), where they condense back to a solid state. Evaporation is used in microfabrication, and to make macro-scale products such as metallized plastic film. History Evaporation deposition was first observed in incandescent light bulbs during the late nineteenth century. The problem of bulb blackening was one of the main obstacles to making bulbs with long life, and received a great amount of study by Thomas Edison and his General Electric company, as well as many others working on their own lightbulbs. The phenomenon was first adapted to a process of vacuum deposition by Pohl and Pringsheim in 1912. However, it found little use until the 1930s, when people began experimenting with ways to make aluminum-coated mirrors for use in telescopes. Aluminum was far too reactive to be used in chemical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sublimation (chemistry)
Sublimation is the Phase transition, transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas state, without passing through the liquid state. The verb form of sublimation is ''sublime'', or less preferably, ''sublimate''. ''Sublimate'' also refers to the product obtained by sublimation. The point at which sublimation occurs rapidly (for further details, see #False correspondence with vaporization, below) is called critical sublimation point, or simply sublimation point. Notable examples include sublimation of dry ice at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, and that of solid iodine with heating. The reverse process of sublimation is deposition (phase transition), ''deposition'' (also called ''desublimation''), in which a substance passes directly from a gas to a solid phase, without passing through the liquid state. Technically, all solids may sublime, though most sublime at extremely low rates that are hardly detectable under usual conditions. At standard condi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knudsen Effusion Cell
In crystal growth, a Knudsen cell is an effusion evaporator source for relatively low partial pressure elementary sources (e.g. Ga, Al, Hg, As). Because it is easy to control the temperature of the evaporating material in Knudsen cells, they are commonly used in molecular-beam epitaxy. Development The Knudsen effusion cell was developed by Martin Knudsen (1871–1949). A typical Knudsen cell contains a crucible (made of pyrolytic boron nitride, quartz, tungsten or graphite), heating filaments (often made of metal tantalum), water cooling system, heat shields, and an orifice shutter. Vapor pressure measurement The Knudsen cell is used to measure the vapor pressure Vapor pressure or equilibrium vapor pressure is the pressure exerted by a vapor in thermodynamic equilibrium with its condensed phases (solid or liquid) at a given temperature in a closed system. The equilibrium vapor pressure is an indicat ...s of a solid with very low vapor pressure. Such a solid forms a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is notoriously toxic. It occurs naturally in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. It has various Allotropes of arsenic, allotropes, but only the grey form, which has a metallic appearance, is important to industry. The primary use of arsenic is in alloys of lead (for example, in car batteries and ammunition). Arsenic is also a common n-type dopant in semiconductor electronic devices, and a component of the III–V compound semiconductor gallium arsenide. Arsenic and its compounds, especially the trioxide, are used in the production of pesticides, treated wood products, herbicides, and insecticides. These applications are declining with the increasing recognition of the persistent tox ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gallium
Gallium is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Ga and atomic number 31. Discovered by the French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1875, elemental gallium is a soft, silvery metal at standard temperature and pressure. In its liquid state, it becomes silvery white. If enough force is applied, solid gallium may fracture conchoidal fracture, conchoidally. Since its discovery in 1875, gallium has widely been used to make alloys with low melting points. It is also used in semiconductors, as a dopant in semiconductor substrates. The melting point of gallium, , is used as a temperature reference point. Gallium alloys are used in thermometers as a non-toxic and environmentally friendly alternative to Mercury (element), mercury, and can withstand higher temperatures than mercury. A melting point of , well below the freezing point of water, is claimed for the alloy galinstan (62–95% gallium, 5–22% indium, and 0–16% tin by weight), but that may be t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) 250 Nm By 250 Nm Image Of One-atom-thick Silver Islands Grown On Palladium (111) Surface
A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is a type of scanning probe microscope used for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, then at IBM Zürich, the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986. STM senses the surface by using an extremely sharp conducting tip that can distinguish features smaller than 0.1 nm with a 0.01 nm (10 pm) depth resolution. This means that individual atoms can routinely be imaged and manipulated. Most scanning tunneling microscopes are built for use in ultra-high vacuum at temperatures approaching absolute zero, but variants exist for studies in air, water and other environments, and for temperatures over 1000 °C. STM is based on the concept of quantum tunneling. When the tip is brought very near to the surface to be examined, a bias voltage applied between the two allows electrons to tunnel through the vacuum separating them. The resulting ''tunneling current'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Impurity
In chemistry and materials science, impurities are chemical substances inside a confined amount of liquid, gas, or solid. They differ from the chemical composition of the material or compound. Firstly, a pure chemical should appear in at least one Phase (matter), chemical phase and can also be characterized by its phase diagram. Secondly, a pure chemical should prove to be homogeneous (i.e., a uniform substance that has the same composition throughout the material). The perfect pure chemical will pass all attempts to separate and purify it further. Thirdly, and here we focus on the common chemical definition, it should not contain any trace of any other kind of chemical species. In reality, there are no absolutely 100% pure chemical compounds, as there is always some small amount of contamination. The levels of impurities in a material are generally defined in relative terms. standardization, Standards have been established by various organizations that attempt to define the permi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epitaxially
Epitaxy (prefix ''epi-'' means "on top of”) is a type of crystal growth or material deposition in which new crystalline layers are formed with one or more well-defined orientations with respect to the crystalline seed layer. The deposited crystalline film is called an epitaxial film or epitaxial layer. The relative orientation(s) of the epitaxial layer to the seed layer is defined in terms of the orientation of the crystal lattice of each material. For most epitaxial growths, the new layer is usually crystalline and each crystallographic domain of the overlayer must have a well-defined orientation relative to the substrate crystal structure. Epitaxy can involve single-crystal structures, although grain-to-grain epitaxy has been observed in granular films. For most technological applications, single-domain epitaxy, which is the growth of an overlayer crystal with one well-defined orientation with respect to the substrate crystal, is preferred. Epitaxy can also play an important ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vacuum Deposition
Vacuum deposition is a group of processes used to deposit layers of material atom-by-atom or molecule-by-molecule on a solid surface. These processes operate at pressures well below atmospheric pressure (i.e., vacuum). The deposited layers can range from a thickness of one atom up to millimeters, forming freestanding structures. Multiple layers of different materials can be used, for example to form optical coatings. The process can be qualified based on the vapor source; physical vapor deposition uses a liquid or solid source and chemical vapor deposition uses a chemical vapor. Description The vacuum environment may serve one or more purposes: * reducing the particle density so that the mean free path for collision is long * reducing the particle density of undesirable atoms and molecules (contaminants) * providing a low pressure plasma environment * providing a means for controlling gas and vapor composition * providing a means for mass flow control into the processing chambe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torr (unit)
The torr (symbol: Torr) is a unit of pressure based on an absolute scale, defined as exactly of a standard atmosphere (101325 Pa). Thus one torr is exactly (≈ ). Historically, one torr was intended to be the same as one "millimetre of mercury", but subsequent redefinitions of the two units made the torr marginally lower (by less than 0.000015%). The torr is not part of the International System of Units (SI). Even so, it is often combined with the metric prefix milli to name one millitorr (mTorr), equal to 0.001 Torr. The unit was named after Evangelista Torricelli, an Italian physicist and mathematician who discovered the principle of the barometer in 1644. Nomenclature and common errors The unit name ''torr'' is written in lower case, while its symbol ("Torr") is always written with an uppercase initial; including in combinations with prefixes and other unit symbols, as in "mTorr" (millitorr) or "Torr⋅L/s" (torr-litres per second). The symbol (uppercase) should b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
