A reactive solid-phase epitaxy (R-SPE) method combines deposition of a thick amorphous or polycrystalline layer with a desired chemical composition and post-deposition solid-phase epitaxial growth. The solid-phase epitaxial growth is invoked by thermal annealing with all assistance of a sacrificial layer working as an epitaxial template. Thereby it enables Lis to grow high-quality epitaxial films of complex oxides whose epitaxial films are not grown by conventional high-temperature growth techniques. It was reported that 2-nm-thick ZnO layers worked as template for growing InGaO3(ZnO)(m) (m = integer) epitaxial films. The present study extended the R-SPE technique to growth of various complex oxides with chemical compositions of RAO(3)(MO)(m) and to use of various epitaxial template layers. We found that mono oxide epitaxial layers such as In2O3 and Ga2O3 work as template layers as well. Alternatively, a ZnO epitaxial layer is also applicable to ZnO-free compounds. The films obtained were grown heteroepitaxially on YSZ(111) and single-crystalline when the fabrication conditions are optimized. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.