We have grown highly epitaxial and phase pure thin films of the arsenic-free pnictide compound CeNixBi2 on (100) MgO substrates by reactive molecular beam epitaxy (RMBE). X-ray diffraction and reflection high-energy electron diffraction of the films confirm the ZrCuSiAs structure with a Bi square net layer. Superconductivity was observed in magnetization and resistivity measurements for x = 0.75 to 0.93 in these CeNixBi2 thin films with the highest critical temperature of 4.05 K and a resistive transition width of 0.1 K for x = 0.86. Our results indicate that thin film deposition by RMBE provides a tool to synthesize high-quality pnictide superconductors of the novel 112 type.
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