Single crystal like thin films by selective ion-induced grain growth

The reliability of microelectronic devices is critically affected by the texture of the thin films. It has been demonstrated that ion bombardment during film growth, a process known as ion beam assisted deposition, is an effective tool for texture control. In particular, the use of two beams allows selection of both the in-plane and the out-of-plane texture. In this paper we show that post-deposition ion bombardment of strongly (1 1 1)-fiber textured Au films leads to the preferred growth of a single orientation, thus proving that single crystalline thin films can be fabricated without the use of molecular beam epitaxy technologies.