There is provided a method of forming a film on a surface to be processed of a workpiece, the method including: accommodating the workpiece with a single-crystallized substance formed on the surface to be processed, into a processing chamber; supplying a crystallization suppressing process gas into the processing chamber such that a crystallization of the single-crystallized substance formed on the surface to be processed is suppressed; and supplying a source gas into the processing chamber to form an amorphous film on the surface to be processed of the workpiece.

A method of growing a crystal in a recess in a substrate on which an insulating film having the recess is formed, includes: forming a first film on the insulating film at a thickness as not to completely fill the recess; etching the first film by an etching gas to remain the first film only in a bottom portion of the recess; annealing the substrate such that the first film in the bottom portion is modified into a crystalline layer; forming a second film on the insulating film and a surface of the crystalline layer at a thickness as not to completely fill the recess; annealing the substrate such that the second film is crystallized from the bottom portion through a solid phase epitaxial growth to form an epitaxial crystal layer; and etching and removing the second film remaining on the substrate by an etching gas.

A plate-like alumina powder production method of the present invention comprises placing a transition alumina and a fluoride in a container such that the transition alumina and the fluoride do not come into contact with each other and then performing heat treatment to obtain a plate-like -alumina powder. The transition alumina is preferably at least one selected from the group consisting of gibbsite, boehmite, and -alumina. It is preferable that the amount of the fluoride used is set such that the percentage ration of F in the fluoride to the transition alumina is 0.017% by mass or more. The container preferably has a volume such that a value obtained by dividing the mass of F in the fluoride by the volume of the container is 6.510.sup.5 g/cm.sup.3 or more. The heat treatment is preferably performed at the temperature of 750 to 1,650 C.

A ferroelectric thin film and a forming method thereof are provided. The method of forming a ferroelectric thin film according to embodiments of the present invention comprises forming a sacrificial seed layer on a first substrate, forming a ferroelectric thin film on the sacrificial seed layer, and transferring the ferroelectric thin film to a second substrate. The ferroelectric thin film according to embodiments of the present invention is formed by the method.

There is provided a technique that includes: (a) forming a first film containing a Group 14 element on a substrate at a film-forming temperature; (b) performing a crystal growth of the first film by performing a heat treatment to the first film at a first temperature; and (c) moving the Group 14 element contained in at least part of the first film toward the substrate to crystallize the first film by performing the heat treatment to the first film at a second temperature higher than the first temperature.

A single crystal that exhibits a high electromechanical coupling factor and a high coercive field when being used for a piezoelectric element, and a method for manufacturing the single crystal are provided. The method is a method for manufacturing a perovskite-type single crystal, wherein, through step (1) of firing a raw material containing an acceptor under an atmospheric environment to produce a first single crystal of perovskite type, step (2) including firing the first single crystal under a reducing environment, and step (3) including firing the single crystal produced in step (2) under an atmospheric environment in this order, a perovskite-type single crystal having a higher coercive field value than the first single crystal is produced.