Turning down the heat on semiconductor growth: Solution-chemical syntheses and the solution-liquid-solid mechanism

Semiconductor crystal growth at low temperatures and under mild reaction conditions would usher in a technological revolution. Following a brief discussion of the processes that occur during crystal growth, several growth techniques are described, including electrodeposition and surfactant-interface growth. Particular attention is paid to solution-liquid-solid growth, a technique discovered by the authors that resembles a living polymerization and a phase transfer reaction, by which crystalline III-V materials are produced at the lowest known growth temperatures.