Molecular Beam Epitaxial Growth of Iron Nitrides on Zinc-Blende Gallium Nitride(001)

Iron nitrides are attractive materials for their high magnetic moments, corrosion, and oxidation resistance. We present the successful epitaxial growth of iron nitride on zinc-blende gallium nitride (c-GaN) in order to develop a novel magnetic transition metal nitride/semiconductor system. First, GaN is grown on magnesium oxide (MgO) substrates having (001) orientation using rf N$_{2}$-plasma molecular beam epitaxy. Then we grow FeN at substrate temperature of $\sim $ 210 $^{\circ}$C up to a thickness of $\sim $ 10.5 nm. \textit{In-situ} reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) is used to monitor the surface during growth. Initial results suggest that the epitaxial relationship is FeN[001] $\vert \vert $ GaN[001] and FeN[100] $\vert \vert $ GaN[100]. Work in progress is to investigate the surface using \textit{in-situ} scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to reveal the surface structure at atomic scale, as well as to explore more Fe-rich magnetic phases.