Ultra-high-vacuum epitaxial growth of MgB2(0001) thin films on Mg(0001) via molecular beam epitaxy

Ordered MgB2 thin films have been successfully grown on Mg(0001) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). By simply depositing B on the Mg substrate a maximum film thickness of about 4 ML can be achieved, while thicker layers can be obtained by co-deposition or alternated deposition of Mg and B. Thick films show hexagonal low energy electron diffraction patterns and the photoemission and x-ray absorption features typical of MgB2.