Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) represents a widely used growth technique to
approach the basic research applied to the growth of semiconductor films and multilayer
structures. The main features that distinguish the MBE from other growth techniques are the
precise reproducibility of all parameters involved during the epitaxial process, the growth
conditions far from thermodynamic equilibrium, and the possibility of controling the kinetic
evolution of the outermost layers of the epitaxial film. Nowadays, MBE is also used to grow and
investigate nanosized semiconducting materials, which are profoundly interesting for photovoltaic
future applications as well.
Keywords: Molecular beam epitaxy, semiconductor thin films, nucleation in film growth,
nanocrystalline materials, electron beam deposition, doping thin films, impurities in crystals,
quantum dots, RHEED, surface reconstruction, dislocations.