Present-day scienceand technology have become increasingly based on
studies and applications of thin films. This is especiallytrue of
solid-state physics, semiconduc- tor electronics, integrated optics,
computer science, and the like. In these fields, it is necessary to use
filmswith an ordered structure, especiallysingle-crystallinefilms,
because physical phenomena and effects in such films are most
reproducible. Also, active parts of semiconductor and other devices and
circuits are created, as a rule, in single-crystal bodies. To date,
single-crystallinefilms have been mainly epitaxial (or heteroepitaxial);
i.e., they have been grown on a single-crystalline substrate, and
principal trends, e.g., in the evolution of integrated circuits (lCs),
have been based on continuing reduction in feature size and increase in
the number of components per chip. However, as the size decreases into
the submicrometer range, technological and physical limitations in
integrated electronics become more and more severe. It is generally
believed that a feature size of about 0.1um will have a crucial
character. In other words, the present two-dimensional ICs are
anticipated to reach their limit of minimization in the near future, and
it is realized that further increase of packing density and/or functions
might depend on three-dimensional integration. To solve the problem,
techniques for preparation of single-crystalline films on arbitrary
(including amorphous) substrates are essential.