Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
We report the first successful growth of an epitaxial insulator-metal-semiconductor structure. A layer of metallic CoSi2, followed by a layer of insulating CaF2 have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si(111). The epitaxial quality of the CaF2 layer improves upon rapid thermal annealing, while the already excellent crystallinity of the CoSi2 layer is unaffected. The lattice of the CoSi2 is rotated 180° with respect to the Si lattice while the CaF2 lattice is aligned with the Si lattice.