Substrate temperature and chemical etching were demonstrated to be dominant factors in determining the in-plane orientation of AlN films grown epitaxially on SrTiO3 (STO) (111) substrates by magnetron sputtering. Single-domain epitaxial AlN films were grown at moderate temperatures of 270–370°C with a sharp interface and orientation relationship of [21¯1¯0]AlN∥[01¯1]STO and (0002)AlN∥(111)STO. At temperature above 470°C, an additional 30° in-plane-rotated AlN domain appeared, and increased in percentage with increasing temperature. A model based on the reconstruction of STO (111) surfaces from (1×1) to (3×3)R30° was proposed to account for the formation of this new domain.
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