Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Expanding the library of high-quality thin films

High-purity samples are essential for quantum matter research. This Comment discusses interesting directions and relevant considerations in growth techniques, particularly molecular beam epitaxy, to improve the quality and expand the variety of thin-film quantum materials.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Linking flux, temperature and substrates as the core ingredients supporting novel growth concepts and pathways to be explored in future generations of high-quality thin films.

References

  1. Chung, Y. J. et al. Nat. Mater. 20, 632–637 (2021).

  2. Zastrow, M. Nature 572, 429–432 (2019).

  3. Dyer, P. E., Issa, A., Key, P. H. & Monk, P. Supercond. Sci. Technol. 3, 472 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Winer, K. & Cardona, M. Phys. Rev. B 35, 8189–8195 (1987).

  5. Ohashi, S. et al. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70, 178–183 (1999).

  6. Braun, W. et al. APL Mater. 8, 071112 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Llanos, A. et al. Nano Lett. 24, 8518–8524 (2024).

  8. Kim, W. J. et al. Sci. Adv. 6, eabb1539 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Badami, D. Carbon 3, 53–57 (1965).

  10. Kim, J. R., Glotzer, S., Llanos, A., Salmani-Rezaie, S. & Falson, J. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.02741 (2024).

  11. Brahlek, M. et al. Adv. Funct. Mater. 28, 1702772 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Hensling, F. V. E. et al. APL Mater. 12, 040902 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Oliver, W. D. & Welander, P. B. MRS Bull. 38, 816–825 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Richardson, C. J., Lordi, V., Misra, S. & Shabani, J. MRS Bull. 45, 485–497 (2020).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joseph Falson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Materials thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Falson, J. Expanding the library of high-quality thin films. Nat. Mater. 24, 158–160 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-024-02081-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-024-02081-x

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing