Atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) is applied to the fabrication of new forms of
rare-earth oxides, rare-earth nitrides and rare-earth phosphides.
Further, ternary compounds composed of binary (rare-earth oxides,
rare-earth nitrides and rare-earth phosphides) mixed with silicon and or
germanium to form compound semiconductors of the formula RE-(O, N,
P)--(Si,Ge) are also disclosed, where RE=at least one selection from
group of rare-earth metals, O=oxygen, N=nitrogen, P=phosphorus,
Si=silicon and Ge=germanium. The presented ALE growth technique and
material system can be applied to silicon electronics, opto-electronic,
magneto-electronics and magneto-optics devices.