The performance of electronic, opto-electronic and electrical devices made using silicon, III-V compound semiconductors and high temperature superconductors are limited by the quality of the thin films that are used. Biaxially-textured films made using ion beam assisted deposition have been demonstrated to fabricate high mobility silicon for flexible electronics, high mobility GaAs for photovoltaics and high critical current density RE-Ba-Cu-O (REBCO, RE=rare earth) superconductor tapes. However the performance of the devices are still limited by the degree of texture of the thin films that are used as templates for growth of the active layers. In this invention, we disclose the fabrication of thin films on inexpensive substrates wherein in-plane texture less than 2° has been achieved in films of thickness less than 1 μm and without any other secondary orientations such as twins. These highlytextured thin films enable electronic, opto-electronic and electrical devices with performance levels better than that achieved so far.