Film growth and epitaxy methods

Film and epitaxy growth form an essential part of engineering components, electronic and photonic devices. This chapter provides a summary of commonly used techniques both in research and for production scale. Examples of materials and applications are given for each of the techniques described. The chapter is broadly divided into two sections depending on the method to deliver elements onto the deposition surface. Vapor phase deposition includes evaporation techniques, chemical vapor deposition and energy assisted processes, covering a range of vapor pressures from atmospheric down to ultra-high vacuum. Solution based methods can be aqueous or solvent based and will normally entail a heterogeneous reaction to yield the required material onto the substrate. This includes chemical bath deposition, sol-gel and electrodeposition. Epitaxial growth is covered with descriptions of the commonly used techniques of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and liquid phase epitaxy (LPE).