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Structural evolution of Re (0001) thin films grown on Nb (110) surfaces by molecular beam epitaxy

The heteroepitaxial growth of Re (0001) films on Nb (110) surfaces has been investigated. Nb/Re bilayers were grown on A-plane sapphire -- alpha-Al2O3 (11-20) -- by molecular beam epitaxy. While Re grew with a (0001) surface, the in-plane epitaxial relationship with the underlying Nb could be best described as a combination of Kurdjumov-Sachs and Nishiyama-Wassermann orientations. This relationship was true regardless of Re film thickness. However, an evolution of the surface morphology with increasing Re thickness was observed, indicative of a Stranski-Krastanov growth mode. Re (0001) layers less than 15 nm thick were atomically smooth, with a typical rms roughness of less than 0.5 nm, while thicker films showed granular surface structures. And despite the presence of a substantial lattice misfit, the Re layer strain diminished rapidly and the Re lattice was fully relaxed by about 20 nm. The strain-free and atomically smooth surface of thin Re overlayers on Nb is ideal for the subsequent epitaxial growth of ultra-thin oxide tunnel barriers. Utilizing bcc/hcp (or bcc/fcc) heteroepitaxial pairs in advanced multi-layer stacks may enable the growth of all-epitaxial superconductor/insulator/superconductor trilayers for Josephson junction-based devices and circuits.