Molecular beam epitaxial growth of atomically smooth scandium nitride films

High quality scandium nitride films have been grown on magnesium oxide (001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy using a rf plasma source for nitrogen. Both reflection high energy electron diffraction and x-ray diffraction confirm that these films have (001)-orientation. Atomic force microscopy reveals a surface morphology consisting of large plateaus and pyramids. The plateaus are found to be atomically smooth and have a 1x1 surface structure, as revealed by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)00142-X].