Single Crystal Self-Assembly

iBeam Materials practices a technology for fabricating large-area crystalline-aligned coatings (films) on polycrystalline substrates using ion-beam assisted deposition (IBAD). Crystalline-aligned films of MgO are routinely made using IBAD with grain alignment of a few degrees. This process was originally developed for manufacturing of high temperature superconductor wire in km lengths. We propose to apply this technology for preparing biaxially oriented seed crystals of BaTiO3 (BTO) for bulk templated grain growth (TGG) of biaxially textured materials. Epitaxial BTO films have been demonstrated on IBAD-textured templates to have properties approaching films grown on single crystals. In addition to IBAD texturing another technology iBeam practices is to planarize substrates by chemical solution deposition, a process called solution deposition planarization (SDP). By removing this SDP layer using an appropriate material, one can lift off the crystal-aligned BTO template film and place it in a precursor matrix for TGG growth of bulk biaxially oriented BTO.