Structure of niobium thin films on sapphire

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Abstract
The structure of Nb thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on sapphire has been studied using high‐resolution x‐ray scattering techniques. Transverse scans of the x‐ray wave vector transfer through the (110)Nb Bragg peak show diffuse scattering with a Lorentzian‐squared profile, and satellite Bragg peaks for certain orientations of the crystal. The former feature arises from a random, two‐dimensional network of Nb domains, and the latter from a periodic distortion of the Nb films at the terrace edges of the vicinal sapphire substrate.