Spinodal Decomposition in the Chemistry and Technology of Inorganic Materials

— Spinodal decomposition is of great practical interest because it allows to obtain a finely dispersed microstructure, which in many cases makes it possible to significantly improve physical properties of materials. In particular, in modern chemistry of materials for the fabrication of multilayer thin-film systems, which are basic to most electrical, optical, biomedical, sensing, and many other functional devices, increasingly wide use is being made of self-organization through special thermodynamic conditions without resorting to complex or energy-consuming techniques. This review presents existing theories, experimental approaches and technologies of thin-film materials using analysis of the literature over the past 60 years with examples of decomposition of solid solutions in ceramics and glasses.