Epitaxy of Fe3O4 on Si(001) by pulsed laser deposition using a TiN/MgO buffer layer

Epitaxy of oxide materials on silicon (Si) substrates is of great interest for future functional devices using the large variety of physical properties of the oxides as ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, or superconductivity. Recently, materials with high spin polarization of the charge carriers have become interesting for semiconductor-oxide hybrid devices in spin electronics. Here, we report on pulsed laser deposition of magnetite (Fe3O4) On Si(001) substrates cleaned by an in situ laser beam high temperature treatment. After depositing a double buffer layer of titanium nitride and magnesium oxide (MgO), a high quality epitaxial magnetite layer can be grown as verified by reflection high energy electron diffraction intensity oscillations and high resolution x-ray diffraction. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.