Surface Microtopography, Atom Transport and Epitaxial Growth

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9313371 Blakely Basic studies of materials growth and processing-- surface diffusion, step interactions, epitaxy--will be conducted to understand and control surface structural defects and the kinetics of surface morphological and compositional changes in the crystal growth of silicon, germanium, and strained layer alloy thin films; STM in combination with electron(LEED) and X- Ray diffraction will be used to provide full characterization of surface morphology as well as to study the dynamics of step rearrangement during growth. Patterned substrates are developed and used as a way to control the distribution of steps which allows an entire distribution of step densities to be studied simultaneously instead of having to use multiple samples. Samples with a distribution of step densities also have positive practical implications with respect to preventing and/or controlling three-dimensional nucleation and growth. %%% The primary goal of this program is to develop a fundamental understanding of surface diffusion, and elementary features of epitaxial growth and related processing of germanium and silicon. An important feature of the program is the education and training of students in a fundamentally and technologically significant area of materials science and engineering. This research will contribute to improving the general performance of advanced devices and integrated circuits used in computing, information processing, and telecommunications. ***