Graphoepitaxy using energy beams

Claim 1

In a method enhancing epitaxy and preferred orientation which method includes the steps of intentionally forming at predetermined locations a plurality of artificial defects having predetermined geometric form at the surface of a solid substrate and thereafter depositing a film on said surface to form a substantially epitaxial or preferred orientation layer in said film having crystallographic orientation influenced by the geometry of an artificial defect so that said predetermined form influences the crystallographic orientation in said film on said surface, the improvement which resides in enhancing the orienting influence of said artificial defects in solid state transformation by applying an incident beam of energy to said film in air at an impingement area that is much smaller than the total area of said film and relatively displacing said film and said impingement area to scan said film with said energy beam over an area of said film much larger than said impingement area, and further including the step of forming artificial steps among said artificial defects having sloping walls parallel to one another and inclined at an angle selected from the group consisting of substantially 70.5° and 109.5° relative to the horizontal.