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Molecular beam epitaxy has recently been applied to the growth and self assembly of nanostructures on crystal substrates. This highlights the importance of understanding how microscopic rules of atomic motion and assembly lead to macroscopic surface shapes. In this thesis, we present results from two computational studies of these mechanisms. We identify a kinetic mechanism responsible for the emergence of low-angle facets in recent epitaxial regrowth experiments on patterned surfaces. Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of vicinal surfaces show that the preferred slope of the facets matches the threshold slope for the transition between step flow and growth by island nucleation. At this crossover slope, the surface step density is minimized and the adatom density is maximized, respectively. A model is developed that predicts the temperature dependence of the crossover slope and hence the facet slope. We also examine the "step bunching" instability thought to be present in step flow growth on surfaces with a downhill diffusion bias. One mechanism thought to produce the necessary bias is the inverse Ehrlich Schwoebel (ES) barrier. Using continuum, stochastic, and hybrid models of one dimensional step flow, we show that an inverse ES barrier to adatom migration is an insufficient condition to destabilize a surface against step bunching.

The material and device characteristics of InGaN/GaN heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition are examined. Two structures grown on sapphire with different p-InxGa1-xN base-region compositions, xIn = 0.03 and 0.05, are presented in a comparative study. In a second experiment, NpN-GaN/InGaN/GaN HBTs are grown and fabricated on free-standing GaN (FS-GaN) and sapphire substrates to investigate the effect of dislocations on III-nitride HBT epitaxial structures. The performance characteristics of HBTs on FS-GaN with a 20×20 m2 emitter area exhibit a maximum collector-current density of ~12.3 kA/cm2, a D.C. current gain of ~90, and a maximum differential gain of ~120 without surface passivation. For the development of deep-ultraviolet optoelectronics, several various structures of optically-pumped lasers at 257, 246, and 243 nm are demonstrated on (0001) AlN substrates. The threshold-power density at room temperature was reduced to as low as 297 kW/cm2. The dominating polarization was measured to be transverse electric in all cases. InAlN material was developed to provide lattice matched, high-bandgap energy cladding layers for a III-N UV laser structure. This would alleviate strain and dislocation formation in the structure, and also mitigate the polarization charge. However, a gallium auto-doping mechanism was encountered which prevents the growth of pure ternary InAlN, resulting instead in quaternary InAlGaN. This phenomenon is quantitatively examined and its source is explored.

Oxides form a class of material which covers almost all the spectra of functionalities : dielectricity, semiconductivity, metallicity superconductivity, non-linear optics, acoustics, piezoelectricity, ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism...In this thesis, crystalline oxides have beenintegrated on the workhorse of the semiconductor industry, the silicon, by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE).The first great interest of the epitaxial growth of crystalline oxides on silicon consists in the application of "high-k" dielectric for future sub-22nm CMOS technology. Gadoliniumoxide was explored in detail as a promising candidate of the alternative of SiO2. The pseudomorphic epitaxial growth of Gd2O3 on Si (111) was realized by identifying the optimal growth conditions. The Gd2O3 films show good dielectric properties and particularly an EOTof 0.73nm with a leakage current consistent with the requirements of ITRS for the sub-22nmnodes. In addition, the dielectric behavior of Gd2O3 thin films was further improved by performing PDA treatments. The second research interest on crystalline oxide/Si platform results from its potential application for the "More than Moore" and "Heterogeneous integration" technologies. TheSrTiO3/Si (001) was intensively studied as a paradigm of the integration of oxides on semiconductors. The crystallinity, interface and surface qualities and relaxation process of the STO films on silicon grown at the optimal conditions were investigated and analyzed. Several optimized growth processes were carried out and compared. Finally a "substrate-like" STO thin film was obtained on the silicon substrate with good crystallinity and atomic flat surface. Based on the Gd2O3/Si and SrTiO3/Si templates, diverse functionalities were integrated on the silicon substrate, such as ferro-(piezo-)electricity (BaTiO3, PZT and PMN-PT),ferromagnetism (LSMO) and optoelectronics (Ge). These functional materials epitaxially grown on Si can be widely used for storage memories, lasers and solar cells, etc.

Eine Methode zur Variation der interatomaren Abstände eröffnet die epitaktische Abscheidung dünner Schichten. Dabei führt die Wahl eines geeigneten Substrates zu Spannungen in der Schichtebene. Im Gegensatz zu hydrostatischen Druckexperimenten an Massivproben ist die dadurch erzeugte biaxiale Verspannung des Kristallgitters von der Art der Probenherstellung abhängig und kann anschließend nicht mehr variiert werden. Werden für verschiedene Verspannungszustände das Substrat und die Präparationsparameter angepasst, beeinflusst dies gleichzeitig das Schichtwachstum. Aus den daraus resultierenden Schichteigenschaften lässt sich der Einfluss der Gitterdeformation nur schwer separieren, was die Vergleichbarkeit von verschiedenen Verspannungszuständen stark einschränkt. Aus diesem Grund konzentrieren sich bisherige Untersuchungen zur Dehnungsempfindlichkeit von supraleitenden Dünnschichten zumeist auf die phänomenologische Beschreibung der Ergebnisse, da sie nur schwer mit der Verspannung in Korrelation zu setzen sind. Da dieses Problem mit herkömmlichen Verfahren nicht zu lösen ist, werden in dieser Arbeit neue Verspannungstechniken auf supraleitende Dünnschichten angewendet und im Besonderen mit dem Fokus auf Fe-basierte Supraleiter untersucht. Zum einen kommen dazu piezoelektrische Substrate zum Einsatz, die eine biaxiale Verspannung der darauf abgeschiedenen Dünnschicht ermöglichen, indem die Gitterparameter des Substrates durch ein elektrisches Feld verändert werden. Zum anderen wird auf Grundlage flexibler Substrate mittels eines Biegeversuchs eine uniaxiale Gitterdeformation von Dünnschichten realisiert. Zusammenfassend wird in dieser Arbeit die Anwendung der dynamischen Verspannung auf supraleitende Schichten für zwei wichtige Materialklassen demonstriert: die Kupferoxid-basierten Supraleiter und die Eisen-basierten Supraleiter. In beiden Fällen konnte ein epitaktisches Wachstum durch gezielte Anpassung der Pufferarchitektur erreicht werden. Im Fall der piezoelektrischen Substrate wurde der vollständige Übertrag der Verspannung in die Schicht nachgewiesen und die Temperaturabhängigkeit der induzierten Dehnung über verschiedene Verfahren ermittelt. Auf dieser Grundlage konnte die Dehnungsempfindlichkeit der supraleitenden Übergangstemperatur, die bisher nur durch statisch verspannte Schichten zugänglich war, näher untersucht werden. Zusätzlich erlaubte der Ansatz die Analyse der Vortexdynamik sowie des oberen kritischen Feldes. Es konnte materialübergreifend gezeigt werden, dass sich die Dehnungsempfindlichkeit der charakteristischen Übergangsfelder einheitlich beschreiben und sich dabei der Vortex-Glas-Flüssigkeits Übergang mit der Aktivierungsenergie korrelieren lässt.

L'intégration de matériaux ferromagnétiques dans des hétérostructures semi-conductrices offre aujourd'hui de nouvelles perspectives dans le domaine de l'électronique de spin. Dans ce manuscrit sont présentés les résultats de la croissance par épitaxie par jets moléculaires d' hétérostructures de Mn5Ge3 sur Ge(111). Le Mn5Ge3 est un composé ferromagnétique jusqu'à température ambiante qui a l'avantage de pouvoir s'intégrer directement au Ge, semi-conducteur du groupe IV. S'agissant d'un matériau relativement nouveau, un des efforts majeurs a porté sur la maîtrise de la croissance des couches minces de Mn5Ge3 par la technique d'épitaxie en phase solide (SPE). Un fort accent a été mis sur les caractérisations structurales, la détermination des relations d'épitaxie avec le Ge(111), afin de les relier aux propriétés magnétiques des films. La seconde partie de ce travail a été consacrée à l'étude des processus cinétiques d'incorporation de carbone dans les couches minces de Mn5Ge3. La combinaison des différents moyens de caractérisations structurales et magnétiques a permis d'aboutir à une augmentation notable de la température de Curie tout en conservant une excellente qualité structurale de la couche et de l'interface avec le Ge et une stabilité thermique jusqu'à 850°C. Tous ces résultats indiquent que les couches minces de Mn5Ge3 épitaxiées sur Ge(111) apparaissent comme des candidats à fort potentiel pour l'injection de spin dans les semi-conducteurs du groupe IV.

Graphene, a single sheet of carbon atoms sp2-bonded in a honeycomb lattice, is a possible all-carbon successor to silicon electronics. Ballistic conduction at room temperature and a linear dispersion relation that causes carriers to behave as massless Dirac fermions are features that make graphene promising for high-speed, low-power devices. The critical advantage of epitaxial graphene (EG) grown on SiC is its compatibility with standard lithographic procedures. Surface X-ray diffraction (SXRD) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) results are presented on the domain structure, interface composition and stacking character of graphene grown on both polar faces of semi-insulating 4H-SiC. The data reveal intriguing differences between graphene grown on these two faces. Substrate roughening is more pronounced and graphene domain sizes are significantly smaller on the SiC (0001) Si-face. Specular X-ray reflectivity measurements show that both faces have a carbon rich, extended interface that is tightly bound to the first graphene layer, leading to a buffering effect that shields the first graphene layer from the bulk SiC, as predicted by ab initio calculations. In-plane X-ray crystal truncation rod analysis indicates that rotated graphene layers are interleaved in C-face graphene films and corresponding superstructures are observed in STM topographs. These rotational stacking faults in multilayer C-face graphene preserve the linear dispersion found in single layer graphene, making EG electronics possible even for a multilayer material.

This study illustrates the ability of SWNT to nucleate and template polymer crystallization and orientation, and produce materials with improved properties and unique polymer morphologies. This research work focuses primarily on the physical interaction between single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and the flexible polymer system polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Polymer crystallization in the near vicinity of SWNT (interphase) has been studied to understand the capability of SWNT in influence polymer morphology in bulk films and fibers. Fibrillar crystallization was achieved by shearing PVA/SWNT dispersions and resulted in the formation of oriented PVA/SWNT fibers or ribbons, while PVA solutions produce unoriented fibers. PVA single crystals were grown in PVA solutions as well as PVA/SWNT dispersions over a period of several months at room temperature (25 C). PVA single crystal growth in PVA/SWNT dispersions is templated by SWNT, and these crystals show the presence of new morphologies for PVA. PVA single crystals of differing morphology were also grown at elevated temperatures, and show morphology dependant electron beam irradiation resistance. Gel-spinning was used to produce PVA, and PVA/SWNT fibers where, PVA crystallization in the bulk fiber was observed. With 1 wt% SWNT loading in PVA, the fiber tensile strength increased from 1.6 GPa for the control PVA to 2.6 GPa for PVA/SWNT. Analysis of this data suggests stress of up to ~120 GPa on the SWNT. This is the highest reported stress on the SWNT to date and confirm excellent reinforcement and load transfer of SWNT in the PVA matrix. Raman spectroscopy data show high SWNT alignment in the fiber where the ratio is measured to be 106. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) is used to characterize polymer morphology near the polymer-SWNT interface for PVA/SWNT fibers. HR-TEM studies of Polymer/CNT composites show distinct morphological differences at the polymer-SWNT interface/interphase for semi-crystalline and amorphous polymer systems which may be related to polymer-SWNT interaction in the composite. Studies on polymer crystallization, carbon nanotube (CNT)/polymer composite, and polymer composite interfacial literature in summarized in Chapter 1. Fibrillar crystallization of PVA and PVA/SWNT is presented in Chapter 2. PVA single crystal grown at varying temperatures is discussed in Chapter 3, followed by single crystal growth studies in PVA/SWNT dispersions in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 summarizes the gel-spinning studies of PVA and PVA/SWNT fibers. Conclusions and recommendations for future work pertaining to this study are given in Chapter 6. Results of HR-TEM studies on other polymer/SWNT composites are given in Appendix A, Appendix B summarizes work on PE crystallization in the SWNT/DMF dispersions, and studies of PVA and PVA/SWNT gel films are summarized in Appendix C.

Molecular beam epitaxy has recently been applied to the growth and self assembly of nanostructures on crystal substrates. This highlights the importance of understanding how microscopic rules of atomic motion and assembly lead to macroscopic surface shapes. In this thesis, we present results from two computational studies of these mechanisms. We identify a kinetic mechanism responsible for the emergence of low-angle facets in recent epitaxial regrowth experiments on patterned surfaces. Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of vicinal surfaces show that the preferred slope of the facets matches the threshold slope for the transition between step flow and growth by island nucleation. At this crossover slope, the surface step density is minimized and the adatom density is maximized, respectively. A model is developed that predicts the temperature dependence of the crossover slope and hence the facet slope. We also examine the "step bunching" instability thought to be present in step flow growth on surfaces with a downhill diffusion bias. One mechanism thought to produce the necessary bias is the inverse Ehrlich Schwoebel (ES) barrier. Using continuum, stochastic, and hybrid models of one dimensional step flow, we show that an inverse ES barrier to adatom migration is an insufficient condition to destabilize a surface against step bunching.