2General Description of MBE
Yoshiji Horikoshi
Department of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, 169‐8050, Japan
2.1 Introduction
Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is a versatile growth technique for producing epitaxial films of semiconductors, insulators, and metals. The usefulness of MBE has been recognized in both research and production areas. Therefore, many books have been published on various aspects of MBE in the last few decades [1–3]. In addition, a tremendous number of papers have been published on MBE apparatus, growth processes, application to new materials, and so on. On GaAs and other III–V compound semiconductors, many important works were published prior to 1970 [4–10]. Much pioneering work on Si MBE was also carried out at this time [11,12]. A precise description of the dawn of MBE is given in Chapter 1. More than 50 years have passed since the first epitaxial growth of semiconductors by MBE was recognized [ 4, 11,13]. Nevertheless, MBE still attracts researchers for the investigation of new materials, new structures, new phenomena of surfaces and interfaces, new devices, and so on. The fundamental factors of MBE are: ultra‐high vacuum (UHV) chambers, high‐quality effusion cells, precise shutter control system, and in‐situ observation techniques. Each of these has been improved considerably in the history of MBE, and improvement is still ongoing with the efforts of manufacturers. Therefore, the MBE systems tomorrow will be different from those today. Most ...