TITANIUM THIN-FILM GROWTH ON SMALL AND LARGE MISFIT SUBSTRATES

The influence of lattice misfit on the growth of Ti (0001) is investig ated in the limit of small negative (-1%) and large positive (+6.8%) m isfit by choosing MgO (111) and Al2O3 (0001) as substrate materials. R eflection high energy electron diffraction imaging and intensity measu rements during growth reveal two-dimensional nucleation of islands on MgO, in contrast to three-dimensional nucleation on Al2O3. X-ray analy sis of 30-nm-thick films on MgO shows a two-component line shape in tr ansverse scans of the (0002) and (0004) reflections, pointing to a hig h degree of structural coherence in the weak disorder limit. The surfa ce morphology of films grown on MgO depends strongly on the substrate temperature during growth. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics. [S0 003-6951(97)03243-9].