Adsorption-controlled growth of EuO by molecular-beam epitaxy

Using molecular-beam epitaxy, we demonstrate the adsorption-controlled growth of epitaxial EuO films on single crystalline (110) YAlO3 substrates. Four-circle x-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals phase-pure, epitaxial, (001)-oriented films with rocking curve full width at half maxima as narrow as 34 arc sec (0.0097°). The critical thickness for the onset of relaxation of (001) EuO on (110) YAlO3 (∼2% lattice mismatch) was determined from XRD measurements to be 382±25 Å. A saturation magnetization of 6.96±0.07μB/Eu, a value close to the theoretical limit of 7μB/Eu, is observed.