Parallel integration and characterization of nanoscaled epitaxial latticesby concurrent molecular layer epitaxy and diffractometry

A material highway for building up crystal lattices and heterojunctions fro m molecular layers has been developed based on a concept of combinatorial l attice integration. The atomic-scale precision of automated multilane pavin g of multilayered thin films is in situ monitored by concurrent reflection high-energy electron diffraction. The designed nanolayered structures are r apidly verified by a concurrent x-ray diffractometer which has been develop ed for the purpose of this technology. This scheme corresponds to the concu rrent two-dimensional Merrifield synthesis to form a variety of sequence-co ntrolled layer structures in parallel and should be widely applicable for s ystematic fabrication and property screening of nanostructured materials an d devices. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.