Coherent growth of superconducting TiN thin films by plasma enhanced molecular beam epitaxy

We have investigated the formation of titanium nitride (TiN) thin films on (001) MgO substrates by molecular beam epitaxy and radio frequency acitvated nitrogen plasma. Although cubic TiN is stabile over a wide temperature range, superconducting TiN films are exclusively obtained when the substrate temperature exceeds 710 degrees C. TiN films grown at 720 degrees C show a high residual resistivity ratio of approximately 11 and the superconducting transition temperature (T-c) is well above 5K. Superconductivity has been confirmed also by magnetiztion measurements. In addition, we determined the upper critical magnetic field (mu H-0(c2)) as well as the corresponding coherence length (xi(GL)) by transport measurements under high magnetic fields. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy data revealed full in plane coherency to the substrate as well as a low defect density in the film, in agreement with a mean-free path length l approximate to 106 nm, which is estimated from the residual resistivity value. The observations of reflection high energy electron diffraction intensity oscillations during the growth, distinct Laue fringes around the main Bragg peaks, and higher order diffraction spots in the reciprocal space map suggest the full controlability of the thickness of high quality superconducting TiN thin films. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4759019]