Single crystal thin films
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorMonti E. Aklufi
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Abstract
A system and techniques are disclosed for forming single crystal films with the use of energy sources that can create shaped hot zones. The energy may be from any source provided that it can be shaped, directed and can heat the film to become molten and recrystallized by liquid phase epitaxy. The hot zone created by the heat source is shaped such that the angle defined by the scanned hot zone's trailing liquid edge is smaller than the angle defined by the intersection of the crystal's slowest growth planes.
Claims14
A method of forming single crystal material from a material that has a crystalline state comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a layer of said material that has a polycrystalline state, said material that has a crystalline state having a preferred growth angle .alpha. which is defined by the intersection of the preferred growth planes of said material having a crystalline state;
- (b) providing a shaped heat source that generates a shaped hot zone;
- (c) scanning said heat source across a surface of said material that has a crystalline state so as to melt within said hot zone at least a portion of the surface of said material that has a crystalline state and such that said melted portion at the trailing edge of said hot zone has an included wedge angle .theta., being less than .alpha., and such that said melted portion solidifies into single crystal material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.