Equilibrium crystal growth from substrate confined liquid

Abstract

A method for in situ growth of an array of single crystals from material deposited on an inert substrate is comprised of (1.0) preparing a surface of the substrate with a closely packed array of concavities which stably contain liquid material by the combined effects of surface tension and geometry, (2.0) depositing the material from which the crystals are to be grown on the prepared surface of the substrate to at least partially fill the concavities, (3.0) removing deposited material from the field by evaporation etching after the next step, and (4.0) crystallizing the material remaining in each concavity. The process may be followed by a further step (5.0) of recrystallizing the material to assure a single crystal in each concavity free of any defects, such as defects resulting from etching. Crystallization may be effected by isothermally heating the substrate at a liquid temperature of the deposited material and changing the composition of the deposited material, and deposited material may be removed from the field during the process of crystallizing the material. The concavities are preferably provided as densely packed polygons plasma etched with vertical walls.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.