Epitaxial Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Epitaxial techniques were developed a few decades ago as convenient methods to synthesize monocrystalline films on monocrystalline substrates, with unpaired control over quality, purity, thickness and interface sharpness. Depending on the materials and the layer structure to be grown, epitaxy can be performed from the vapor, liquid or solid phases, or in the form of molecular beams in ultra-high vacuum. The materials originally grown were elemental and compound semiconductors, and these materials represent still today the most prominent application of epitaxial techniques. However, a wide range of novel epitaxial materials is nowadays synthesized, including oxides, magnetic materials, superconductors, metals, and organics. Materials grown through such techniques have become common constituents of devices we use in everyday life, in fields ranging from nano and optoelectronics, to photonics, ICT, energy production, sensing, biological and environmental applications. Besides, special modifications of epitaxial techniques allow the synthesis of low-dimensional structures, such as quantum dots, nanowires, carbon nanotubes and epitaxial graphene. In this special issue we address recent progress and new directions in the synthesis of traditional and novel materials, including low-dimensional structures, by means of the above mentioned epitaxial techniques.

Dr. Giorgio Biasiol
Guest Editor