Abstract
We report the growth, crystal structures, and orientation relationships of nanoscale M2O3 (M=Gd, Nd) thin films on Si(111) substrates using molecular beam epitaxy. We find that the grown Gd2O3 and Nd2O3 layers share the cubic bixbyite structure, have single orientations, and are well crystallized. The epitaxial oxides are also found to be of threefold symmetry, having orientation relationships [111]M2O3||[111]Si and [1\\bar10]M2O3||[\\bar110]Si with respect to the Si substrates. Further investigations along in-plane direction show that the M2O3 layers are well matched to the double unit cell of Si substrates, with slightly negative mismatch for the Gd2O3 and positive for the Nd2O3.
