Interface characterization of AlN/TiN/MgO(001) prepared by molecular beam epitaxy

The AlN/TiN/MgO(001) interfaces, prepared by molecular beam epitaxy, have been characterized by cross-sectional high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM). The thin TiN buffer layer, with the thickness of 40 nm, is epitaxially grown on the MgO(001) substrate. Owing to the same structure-type as well as the small mismatch of their lattice parameters, the growth is governed by the parallel orientation relationship of (001)TiN∥(001)MgO, (010)TiN∥(010)MgO, and (111)TiN∥(111)MgO. Two kinds of processes of the hexagonal AlN epitaxial growth on the as-received TiN(001), differed by the(0001)AlN plane parallel to, and the (101̄2) plane approximately parallel to the MgO substrate surface, respectively, are identified, and within them, several cases are classified which are based on the consideration of crystallographic symmetry. Theoretical calculations based on the geometrical model that was recently proposed and applied to a number of epitaxial systems have been carried out to rationalize these observations.