image: This figure shows a schematic (top) of the laser annealing process used to generate nanostructured single crystal thin films with a defined growth relation ("epitaxy") to the substrate (grey) using a self-assembled nanostructured template (yellow). Through short laser pulses of the melt laser a transient melt is generated (melt duration of only tens of nanoseconds) which fills the pores of the template and subsequently crystallizes from the substrate upwards, thus reproducing the nanostructure of the template in the form of a single crystal. Removal of the template reveals the nanostructure. The scanning electron microscopy images at the bottom show top views of (left) a 100nm thick nanostructured porous oxide template (inset: side view), the resulting nanostructure through melt backfilling of the porous template and template removal (middle; inset: side view), as well as a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) image (right) revealing the order of the atoms of the substrate extending into the nanostructure (epitaxy). This image relates to an article that appeared in the Oct. 8, 2010, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. Hitesh Arora of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and Intel Corporation in Chandler, Ariz., and colleagues was titled, "Block Copolymer Self-Assembly–Directed Single-Crystal Homo- and Heteroepitaxial Nanostructures." view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Uli Wiesner, Cornell University