Nano- to atomic-scale epitaxial aluminum films on Si substrate grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We demonstrate nano- to atomic-scale epitaxial aluminum film growth on Si(111) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. Excellent quality of these aluminum films, including sub-nanometer surface roughness, narrow linewidth of X-ray diffraction peak, clear transmission electron diffraction, and high optical reflectivity in ultra-violet, have been obtained with a reproducible growth recipe. The atomic-scale metallic aluminum film is formed by the self-limiting oxidation on the 3-nm-thick sample in air and the metallic state is confirmed with X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Our work paves the way to future integration of aluminum-based plasmonic and superconducting devices on Si platform.