A method to form a strain-inducing three-component epitaxial film is described. In one embodiment, the strain-inducing epitaxial film is formed by a multiple deposition/etch step sequence, followed by an amorphizing dopant impurity-implant and, finally, a kinetically-driven crystallization process. In one embodiment, the charge-neutral lattice-substitution atoms are smaller and present in greater concentration than the charge-carrier dopant impurity atoms.