Epitaxial growth of omega-titanium on the (111) surface of Alpha-Iron

ω-Ti films of trigonal structure are grown epitaxially on the (111) surface of α-Fe at 300 K by electron beam evaporation in UHV. The ω-Ti films are oriented with the (0001) plane parallel to the α-Fe(111) plane and the ω-Ti [21¯1¯0] direction in the α-Fe [11¯0] direction in the plane of the substrate. The second-nearest-neighbor atomic interaction is believed responsible for the formation of ω-Ti at the interface. The relatively thick ω-Ti film (40 nm) is a result of the small energy difference between ω-Ti and the competing hcp-Ti.