Epitaxial growth and electrical-transport properties of Ti(7)Si(2)C(5) thin films synthesized by reactive sputter-deposition

Epitaxial predominantly phase-pure Ti(7)Si(2)C(5) thin films were grown onto Al(2)O(3)(0 0 0 1) by reactive magnetron sputtering. The c-axis lattice constant is similar to 60.2 angstrom; the Ti(7)Si(2)C(5) unit cell comprises alternating Ti(3)SiC(2)-like and Ti(4)SiC(3)-like half-unit-cell stacking repeated three times. Elastic recoil detection analysis showed a few percent of nitrogen in the films from the acetylene gas used. The nitrogen-induced stabilization mechanism for Ti(7)Si(2)C(5) relative to Ti(3)SiC(2) and Ti(4)SiC(3) is discussed. Electrical-transport measurements showed metallic temperature dependence and a room-temperature resistivity of similar to 45 mu Omega cm.Funding Agencies|European Research Council||Swedish Research Council||Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research||NSF|08214060960003