The Origins of Modern Surface Science

According to Gatos, the needs of solid-state electronics, not least in connection with various compound semiconductors, were a prime catalyst for the evolution of the techniques needed for a detailed study of surface structure, an evolution which gathered pace in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This analysis is confirmed by the fact that Gatos, who had become a semiconductor specialist in the materials science and engineering department at was invited in 1962 to edit a new journal to be 

Other fields of surface study were of course developing the study of catalysts for the chemical industry and the study of friction and lubrication of solid surfaces were two such fields. But in sheer terms of economic weight, solid-state electronics seems to have led the field. 

Before 1950, it was impossible to examine the true structure of a solid surface, because, even if a surface is cleaned by flash-heating, the atmospheric molecules which constantly bombard a solid surface very quickly re-form an adsorbed monolayer, which is likely to alter the underlying structure. Assuming that all incident molecules of oxygen or nitrogen stick to the surface, a monolayer will be formed in 3 x 10 second at 1 Torr (=1 mm of mercury), that is, at 10 atmosphere a monolayer forms in 3 s at 10 Torr, or 10 atmosphere but a complete monolayer takes about an hour to form at 10 Torr. The problem was that in 1950, a vacuum of 10 Torr was not achievable lO Torr was the limit, and that only provided a few minutes grace before an experimental surface became wholly contaminated. 

The scientific study of surfaces, and the full recognition of how much a surface differs from a bulk structure, awaited a drastic improvement in vacuum technique. The next Section is devoted to a brief account of the history of vacuum. 

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