Integrating second order nonlinear optical materials on chip is an ongoing challenge for Si photonics. Noncentrosymmetric molecular crystals have the potential to deliver high nonlinearity with good thermal stability, but so far have been limited to growth from solution or the melt, which are both difficult to control and scale up in manufacturing.

Here, it is shown that large (>100 mm) single crystal domains of the nonlinear molecule 2-[3-(4-hydroxystyryl)-5,5-dimethylcyclohex-2-enylidene] malononitrile (OH1) can be grown monolithically on either glass or Si via vacuum evaporation, followed by a short thermal annealing step. The crystallites are tens of nanometer thick and exhibit strong second harmonic generation with their primary c⁽²⁾ tensor component lying predominantly in plane. Remarkably, it was found that a single domain can grow uninterrupted through nearby channels etched on a Si wafer, which may provide a path to integrate OH1 on Si or Si₃N₄ waveguides for a broad range of c⁽²⁾ -based photonic integrated circuit functionality.