Epitaxial growth of titanium oxycarbide on MgO (001) substrates by pulsed laser deposition

▶ High-quality epitaxial TiCxOy films are successfully grown on MgO (001) substrates. ▶ The stoichiometry of TiCxOy is about x∼0.47 and y∼0.69. ▶ The TiCxOy film is electrically conducting with resistivity of 137μΩcm. Epitaxial TiCxOy thin films were grown on MgO (001) substrates by using pulsed laser deposition method. High-resolution X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy were used to examine crystallinity and microstructure of epitaxial TiCxOy film on MgO. The chemical composition of the film is determined to be x∼0.47 and y∼0.69 by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Atomic force microscopy revealed that the surface of TiCxOy film is very smooth with roughness of 0.18nm. The resistivity of the TiCxOy film measured by four-point-probe method was about 137μΩcm.