Monolayer

The term monolayer (English: monolayer ) or monolayer designated depending on the field, a layer of atoms, molecules or cells on a surface, wherein the layer height is only an atom, a molecule or cell. There are in the monolayer, therefore, one above the other no same atoms or molecules. The term can also be understood as a unit of measurement used for the deposition or ablation on crystalline surfaces. One monolayer corresponds to the full, values ​​less than one partial cover a substrate with the deposited or ablated atomic, molecular, or cell type.

Physical experiments to determine the properties of the surface of solid bodies require high purity conditions, already a monolayer of foreign atoms can lead to erroneous results. In practice, the concept of mono time has established, defined as the time in which a formerly pure solid surface covered by residual gas deposition with a monolayer.