Epitaxial growth of Ni films by radio frequency sputtering on GaAs(001) with a TiN buffer

In our experiments, the highly ordered epitaxial growth was obtained with the crystallographic relationship of Ni(001)[001]TiN(001)[001]GaAs(001)[001] by the TiN deposition at 500 °C in N2 gas flowing at 1.0 sccm, followed by the Ni deposition at 300 °C, where the degree of the Ni film epitaxy depends on the TiN thickness. In conclusion, the highest ordered epitaxial Ni film is grown on the 13 nm thick TiN buffer.