Molybdenum thin-film growth on rutile titanium dioxide (1 1 0)

Molybdenum films were deposited at room temperature on rutile TiO2(1 1 0) surfaces having different stoichiometries, surface roughnesses and crystallinities. The film structures and compositions and the substrate–film interfaces were investigated by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Different substrate pretreatments resulted in markedly different film and interface structures. Under the growth conditions studied, no amorphous molybdenum oxide interlayers were formed upon deposition in contrast to previous studies. Preferred (1 1 0) textured Mo films grew on both air-annealed and oxygen-bombarded substrates. While sharp substrate–film interfaces were observed in the air-annealed samples, oxygen bombardment led to a rough interface. Epitaxial growth was achieved on argon-bombarded substrates, and a single crystal TiO interlayer was present as a result of the substrate pretreatment. The orientation relationship among three crystalline layers was: Mo(2 0 0)[0 0 1]//TiO(2 0 0)[0 1 1]//TiO2(1 1 0)[0 0 1]. Even though the growth was epitaxial, the argon bombardment resulted in a rough interface between the substrate and the TiO interlayer and between TiO and the Mo film. The results are compared with previous data on thin Mo film growth (⩽3 ML) on rutile TiO2(1 1 0), and the structural evolution is discussed.