We have investigated the lateral solid phase crystallization (SPC) of amorphous germanium (a-Ge) precursors on single crystalline silicon (c-Si) substrates with a silicon dioxide (SiO2) stripe structure. The a-Ge layers were deposited on c-Si with SiO2 stripes at 100 degrees C and SPC was carried out at 375-385 degrees C. The crystallization in a-Ge layers is only nucleated on c-Si substrates and thus, the preferential crystalline growth occurred along the normal orientation of the c-Si substrates, with no crystallization of the Ge layers nucleated on a-Ge layers over SiO2 layers, except near the c-Si/SiO2 boundary. As a result we have obtained lateral preferential crystalline growth of c-Ge of large grain size by SPC from a-Ge films on c-Si over SiO2 stripes, where the preferential crystalline growth distance in a-Ge on SiO2 increased from 3 to 5 pm, when the annealing temperature increased from 375 to 385 degrees C. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.