Epitaxy is the growth of a thin film on a substrate in which the crystal properties of the film are inherited from those of the substrate. Because of the wide range of relevant length and time scales, multiscale mathematical models have been developed to describe epitaxial growth. This presentation describes atomistic, island dynamics and continuum models. Island dynamics models are multiscale ...

We have grown a novel epitaxial phase of cerium on vanadium using molecular-beam epitaxy and characterized by high-energy electron and x-ray diffraction. The results show that the Ce phase is contracted by 8% in the basal plane and expanded 2% out of the plane when compared to the ambient-temperature and ambient-pressure fcc, y-Ce. Furthermore, the relative orientation of the Ce(111) and the V(...

Direct observations using scanning transmission electron microscopy unveil an intriguing interfacial bi-layer that enables epitaxial growth of a strain-free, monoclinic, bronze-phase VO2(B) thin film on a perovskite SrTiO3 (STO) substrate. We observe an ultrathin (2-3 unit cells) interlayer best described as highly strained VO2(B) nanodomains combined with an extra (Ti,V)O2 layer on the TiO2 te...

The epitaxial growth of crystalline wurtzite AlN thin films on ~001! Si substrates by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy is reported. The nucleation and the growth dynamics have been studied in situ by reflection high-energy electron diffraction. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction investigations revealed a two-domain film structure (AlN and AlN! with a 30...

Pulsed laser deposition was used to grow epitaxial p-FeSis films on Si(ll1) (1X1) and Si(ll1) (7X7) with the following epitaxial orientations: P-FeSi2(OOl)//Si(lll) with @-FeSi~OlO]//Si(llO) and three rotational variants’silicide growth was influenced by substrate temperature and deposition rate, but not by the structure of the starting surface. Films containing both P-FeSia and FeSi were forme...

We study theoretical aspects of step fluctuations on vicinal surfaces by adding conservative white noise to the Burton-Cabrera-Frank model in one spatial dimension. We consider material deposition from above, as well as entropic and elastic-dipole step repulsions. Two approaches are discussed: (i) the linearization of stochastic equations when fluctuations are small, which captures correlations...

Using a kinetic model of epitaxial growth, we describe how geometry controls kinetic pathways through which external deposition influences the state of a vicinal surface. The state of the surface is determined by three key, adjustable parameters: the local step angle θ, the Péclet number P , and the single-bond detachment rate b̆. By scaling arguments in P , we find three steady-state regimes. I...

This chapter gives an introduction to the epitaxial growth of thin films on solid substrates. The term epitaxy refers to the growth of a crystalline layer on (epi) the surface of a crystalline substrate, where the crystallographic orientation of the substrate surface imposes a crystalline order (taxis) onto the thin film. This implies that film elements can be grown, up to a certain thickness, ...

The evolution of microstructure during Au-mediated solid phase epitaxial growth of a SixGe12x alloy film on Si~001! was investigated by in situ sheet resistance measurements, x-ray diffraction, conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. Annealing amorphous-Ge/Au bilayers on Si~001! to tempe...

Graphene, a hexagonal sheet of sp(2)-bonded carbon atoms, has extraordinary properties which hold immense promise for nanoelectronic applications. Unfortunately, the popular preparation methods of micromechanical cleavage and chemical exfoliation of graphite do not easily scale up for application purposes. Epitaxial graphene provides an attractive alternative, though there are many challenges, ...