Major challenges concerning the use of chemical beam epitaxy deposition techniques are posed by the lack of reliablein situcomposition control and well-behaved metal–organic precursors. To circumvent these shortcomings, we propose the use of a different type of metal–organic precursors, namely molecules resistant to high temperatures, for the growth of thin films. As these molecules cannot be decomposed by the substrate temperature, they are subjected to a chemical reaction with a beam of activated species. The major advantages of this novel deposition process are listed and illustrated by the growth of CuO and YBa2Cu3O7thin films. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.