The effect of substrate patterning on hydroxyapatite (HA) sol-gel thin film growth is investigated. Sol-gel derived HA was spun onto wet and dry etched micro-patterned titanium substrates to obtain thin films of thickness similar to 400 nm. The amorphous films were made crystalline by firing at temperatures ranging from 650 to 850 degrees C for 5 min. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to characterize the films. Crystal sizes calculated from XRD data show that films on patterned substrates contained larger grains than those on un-patterned substrates. The films on wet etched substrates contained larger grains than the films on dry etched substrates. AFM results confirm XRD results. A marked difference between the films on patterned and unpatterned substrates was observed, with those on the patterned substrates being much rougher than those on the unpatterned substrates. The films inside the channels contained larger grains than those outside of channels, on the polished, unetched portion of the substrate. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.