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Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) which refers to a process for growing thin material using localized beams of atoms or molecules in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) environment to provide a source of the constituents to the growing surface of a substrate crystal. MBE, which was originally developed in 1970s for growing high-purity epitaxial layers of compound semiconductors [1, 2] has now become a favorite process for the growth of epitaxial films of metals, magnetic materials, oxides and even organic structures. MBE provides a precise control of the crystal growth compared with other methods. This is because of the cleanliness of the surface obtained with this method due to the UHV environment. This allow the growth of multilayered/heterostrcutures with extremely sharp interfaces. MBE also provides the assessment of the crystal surface by a variety of in-situ surface sensitive techniques that require high vacuum.

Literature on mBE

[1] A. Cho, "Film Deposition by Molecular Beam Techniques," J. Vac. Sci. Tech., Vol. 8, pp.S31-S38, 1971.

[2] A. Cho, J. Arthur, "Molecular Beam Epitaxy," Prog. Solid-State Chem., Vol. 10, pp. 157-192, 1975.