Patent ID: 8629045

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor structure, the method comprising: forming an insulator having an opening to a crystalline substrate; forming a first crystalline material within the opening in the insulator, the first crystalline material being lattice-mismatched with the crystalline substrate; providing a planar layer over a first edge of the first crystalline material that is proximate a sidewall of the opening in the insulator, the planar layer comprising a second crystalline material over the first crystalline material, the second crystalline material having a second edge that extends from a top surface of the insulator away from the insulator, the planar layer further comprising a semiconductor material over the top surface of the insulator, the semiconductor material comprising: (i) an amorphous material, (ii) a polycrystalline material having a first polycrystalline structure at an interface with the second edge and having a second polycrystalline structure away from the interface with the second edge, or (iii) a third crystalline material having a composition uniform from the top surface of the insulator to a top surface of the planar layer, the composition of the third crystalline material being different from a composition of the second crystalline material; and forming a device in and/or over the planar layer while the semiconductor material comprises the amorphous material, the polycrystalline material, or the third crystalline material.