Epitaxial Growth of TiN on Al2O3 at Cryogenic Temperature

Epitaxial growth of a titanium nitride film on sapphire is achieved at the temperature of liquid nitrogen by means of reactive sputtering. The quality of epitaxy has been thoroughly studied by X-ray pole figure analysis. The full-width at half maximum (FWHM) from the X-ray rocking curve of 0.66° (2376 arcsec) is exceptionally low for the film grown at -200°C with a thickness of 50 nm.