Physics of Crystal Growth

by Alberto Pimpinelli, Jacques Villain

Overview

This text discusses the physical principles of how and why crystals grow. It introduces the fundamental properties of crystal surfaces at equilibrium, and describes simple models and basic concepts of crystal growth including diffusion, thermal smoothing of a surface, and applications to semiconductors. It also covers more complex topics such as kinetic roughness, growth instabilities, and elastic effects, as well as the crucial contributions of crystal growth in electronics during this century. The book focuses on growth using molecular beam epitaxy. Throughout, the emphasis is on the role played by modern statistical physics. Informative appendices, interesting exercises and an extensive bibliography reinforce the text.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521558556
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/10/1998
Series:	Collection Alea-Saclay: Monographs and Texts in Statistical Physics , #4
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.85(w) x 9.65(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Alberto Pimpinelli is Executive Director of the Smalley-Curl Institute and Faculty Fellow in the Materials Science and Nanoengineering Department at Rice University, Houston, full Professor in the Physics Department at the Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, France, and Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. From 2008 to 2012, he was one of the Attaches for Science and Technology of the French Embassy in the US. Trained as a theoretical physicist, Pimpinelli obtained his PhD from the University of Parma, Italy, with a thesis dealing with statistical physics models of magnetism in insulating systems. His interests shifted towards crystal surfaces and crystal growth when, after receiving fellowships from the Accademia dei Lincei and the European Union, he left Italy for the Centre d'Etudes Nucleaires and the Laue Langevin Institute in Grenoble (1991–7). In 1997, he was appointed Professor at the Université Blaise Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand, where he taught statistical and solid state physics, as well as introductory courses in nanosciences. In 2004, he was invited to the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the University of Maryland, where he was appointed Visiting Professor the following year. He has acted as a reviewer for many institutions and scientific agencies, such as the MNEST, the ANR, the NSF, the EU, the EC, and the Romanian Government. He has authored or co-authored more than 150 scientific papers and book chapters, and has been invited to talk at many international conferences.

Table of Contents

Preface; List of symbols; 1. Morphology of a crystal surface; 2. Surface free energy, step free energy, and chemical potential; 3. The equilibrium crystal shape; 4. Growth and dissolution crystal shapes: Frank's model; 5. Crystal growth: the abc; 6. Growth and evaporation of a stepped surface; 7. Diffusion; 8. Thermal smoothing of a surface; 9. Silicon and other semiconducting materials; 10. Growth instabilities of a planar front; 11. Nucleation and the adatom diffusion length; 12. Growth roughness at long lengthscales in the linear approximation; 13. The Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation; 14. Growth without evaporation; 15. Elastic interactions between defects on a crystal surface; 16. General equations of an elastic solid; 17. Technology, crystal growth and surface science; Appendices; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This book is an absolute 'must' to anyone interested in surface processes, growth, and the connection between the two....The breadth of the book is truly and absolutely remarkable....It is my conviction that the book is here to stay: the statistical physics of growth, as presented in this remarkable book, is robust enough to withstand the assualt of time. I recommend the Physics of Crystal Growth, by Pimpinelli and Villain, very strongly." /s Journal of the Canadian Physical Society

From the Publisher