Growth reactions and mechanisms in chemical beam epitaxy (CBE)

The rapidly increasing interest in chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) and related ultra-high vacuum (UHV)-based epitaxial growth techniques has arisen primarily as a result of their expected technological advantages compared to either the conventional molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) or metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) processes. The CBE-related techniques do, however, provide the additional important advantage, compared to MOVPE, that the UHV environmental allows in-vacuo analytical techniques to be used to provide in-situ characterization regarding the composition and crystallography of the growing layers, and also vital information regarding the growth mechanisms involved. The present paper reviews the current understanding relating to III–V CBE reaction mechanisms, and highlights specific topics which require further investigation.