The surfactant effect in semiconductor thin film growth

The theoretical and experimental status of surfactant mediated semiconductor epitaxial growth is reviewed. We discuss homoepitaxy as well as heteroepitaxy, and emphasize in particular issues related to the mechanism by which surfactants suppress growth of three dimensional islands in heteroepitaxy. We argue that the dominant mechanism is passivation of island edges, which leads to suppression of attachment and detachment of atoms to and from island edges.