Templated Solid-State Dewetting to Controllably Produce Complex Patterns

Templated formation of complex patterns via solid-state dewetting is demonstrated. Thin films often dewet from their substrates when they are heated, even while remaining in the solid state throughout the process. It is shown that solid-state dewetting of epitaxial films can be templated through lithographic pre-patterning, so as to reproducibly form complex structures with sub lithographic feature sizes.