High-Index Epitaxial Fe Films Grown on MgO(113)

The epitaxial growth of high-index Fe films on MgO(113) substrates is successfully achieved using direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering, despite the significant lattice constant mismatch between Fe and MgO. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis is employed to characterize the crystal structure of Fe films, revealing an Fe(103) out-of-plane orientation. Furthermore, our investigation reveals that the Fe[010] direction is parallel to the MgO[11¯0] direction within the films plane. These findings provide valuable insights into the growth of high-index epitaxial films on substrates with large lattice constant mismatch, thereby contributing to the advancement of research in this field.