Atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) technique developed in. last ten years is actually a novel modification to existing vapor-phase epitaxy methods

such as evaporative deposition

molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)

Chloride epitaxy and. metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD.). it is based on chemical reactions at the solid surface of a substrate. The compound films with accurate thickness

stoichiometric

high chemical stability

structural perfection and uniform can be obtained by ALE. This review introduces the operation principle

feature and the development of ALE. It was shown that ALE was used to develop successfully large area electroluminescence (EL) thin film displays with excellent characteristics

as well as to grow abrupt heterojunctions

multi-quantum well structure and superlattices in recent years. Thereby

ALE offeres a vehicle for investigating low-dimensional semiconductor thin layer structure.