Patent ID: 7393762

Claim:
A method of forming at least one nanoscale material on a substrate, the at least one nanoscale material comprising at least one of an oxide and a nitride, the method comprising the steps of: a. providing the substrate; b. providing a flux of at least one element to a surface of the substrate, wherein the at least one element is an element other than oxygen and nitrogen; c. introducing at least one of nitrogen and oxygen into a plasma within a plasma source, wherein the plasma dissociates, heats, and energizes the at least one of nitrogen and oxygen; d. extracting a collimated flux of energetic neutral atoms and molecules of at least one of nitrogen and oxygen from the plasma source; and c. directing the collimated flux from the plasma source onto the surface of the substrate, where the at least one element reacts with the energetic neutral atoms to form the at least one nanoscale material; and, f. wherein the neutral atoms and molecules in the collimated flux have an average kinetic energy in a range from about 0.5 eV to about 5 eV.