Principles of Surface Physics

In recent decades, surface and interface physics has become an increasingly important subdiscipline within the physics of condensed matter as well as an interdisciplinary ?eld between physics, crystallography, chemistry, biology, and materials science. There are several driving forces for the development of the ?eld, among them semiconductor technology, new materials, epitaxy and chemical catalysis. The electrical and optical properties of nanostructures based on di?erent semiconductors are governed by the interfaces or, at least, by the presence of interfaces. A microscopic understanding of the growth processes requires the investigation of the surface processes at an atomic level. Elementary processes on surfaces, such as adsorption and desorption, play a key role in the understanding of heterogeneous catalysis. During the course of the surface investigations, it has been possible to observe a dramatic progress in the ability to study surfaces of materials in general, and on a