caa a22 4500 388020865 CHVBK 20180307124924.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199803 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1557/JMR.1998.0087 doi S0884291400043247 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1557/JMR.1998.0087 Wagner Thomas Max-Planck-Institut fü Metallforschung, Stuttgart, Germany High temperature epitaxial growth and structure of Nb films on α-Al2O3(0001) [Elektronische Daten] [Thomas Wagner] Epitaxial Nb thin films were grown via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at different substrate temperatures on α-Al2O3(0001) substrates. For temperatures of 900 °C to 1100 °C, it was found that Nb grows in the Volmer-Weber growth mode (formation of three-dimensional crystallites). Depending on the growth temperature, different epitaxial orientations of Nb films can be found. At a growth temperature of 900 °C, the Nb{111} planes are parallel to the sapphire basal plane whereas at 1100 °C the Nb grows with the {110} planes on the basal plane of sapphire. These orientations are present even in the initial stages of growth at both temperatures. The formation of two different epitaxial orientations of thick Nb films can be conclusively explained only by considering both the change in the total density of Nb islands with temperature and the influence of island size on the total energy of the islands. The Nb island growth process has been investigated in situ using reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed to determine the morphology and structure of Nb islands, Nb films, and Nb/α-Al2O3 interfaces. Copyright © Materials Research Society 1998 Journal of Materials Research Cambridge University Press 13/3(1998-03), 693-702 0884-2914 13:3<693 1998 13 JMR https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.1998.0087 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.1998.0087 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Wagner Thomas Max-Planck-Institut fü Metallforschung, Stuttgart, Germany NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Materials Research Cambridge University Press 13/3(1998-03), 693-702 0884-2914 13:3<693 1998 13 JMR CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge