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MBE deserves a place in the history books

Nature Nanotechnology volume 2, pages 259–261 (2007)Cite this article

Molecular beam epitaxy is widely used in research and industry to make semiconductor devices and structures. However, despite its ability to control matter with near-atomic precision, the technique is overlooked in most histories of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

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Figure 1: Al Cho (right) and Charles Radice working on an early MBE machine at Bell Labs in 1970.

BELL LABS

Figure 2: Four pioneers of modulation doping gather around an early MBE machine at Bell Labs in 1978: (left–right) Willy Wiegmann, Art Gossard, Horst Störmer and Ray Dingle.

BELL LABS

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Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges Alfred Cho and Art Gossard for their comments and recollections. This research is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SES 0531184. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.

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  1. W. Patrick McCray is at the Center for Nanotechnology in Society, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA. pmccray@cns.ucsb.edu,

    W. Patrick McCray

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McCray, W. MBE deserves a place in the history books. Nature Nanotech 2, 259–261 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.121

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