Written for physicists, chemists, and engineers specialising in crystal and film growth, semiconductor electronics, and various applications of thin films, this book reviews promising scientific and engineering trends in thin films and thin-films materials science. The first part discusses the physical characteristics of the processes occurring during the deposition and growth of films, the principal methods of obtaining semiconductor films and of reparing substrate surfaces on which crystalline films are grown, and the main applications of films. The second part contains data on epitaxial interfaces and on ways of reducing transition regions in films and film-type devices, on the processes of crystallization and recrystallization of amorphous films, and on thermodynamic conditions, mechanisms and kinetic parameters of accelerated crystallization.
