Epitaxy

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Epitaxy is a kind of interface between a thin film and a substrate. The term epitaxy (greek; "epi" "above" and "taxis" "in ordered manner") describes an ordered crystalline growth on a (single-) crystalline substrate. It involves the growth of crystals of one material on the crystal face of another (heteroepitaxy) or the same (homoepitaxy) material. The lattice structure and orientation or lattice symmetry of the thin film material is identical to that of the substrate on which it is deposited. Most importantly, if the substrate is a single crystal, then the thin film will also be a single crystal. Contrast with self-assembled monolayer and mesotaxy.

Some examples are molecular beam epitaxy, liquid phase epitaxy and vapor phase epitaxy. It has applications in nanotechnology and in the manufacture of semiconductor and photonic devices. Indeed, epitaxy is the only affordable method of high crystalline quality growth for many semiconductor materials, including the technologically important materials as SiGe, gallium nitride, gallium arsenide and indium phosphide, the latter used in devices for LEDs and telecommunications.