and Per Eklund, Phase-stabilization and substrate effects on nucleation and growth of (Ti,V)(n+1)GeC(n) thin films, 2011, Journal of Applied Physics, (110) Phase-pure epitaxial thin films of (Ti,V) 2 GeC have been grown onto Al 2 O 3 (0001) substrates via magnetron sputtering. The c lattice parameter is determined to be 12.59 Å , corresponding to a 50=50 Ti=V solid solution according to Vegard's law, and the overall (Ti,V):Ge:C composition is 2:1:1 as determined by elastic recoil detection analysis. The minimum temperature for the growth of (Ti,V) 2 GeC is 700 C, which is the same as for Ti 2 GeC but higher than that required for V 2 GeC (450 C). Reduced Ge content yields films containing (Ti,V) 3 GeC 2 and (Ti,V) 4 GeC 3 . These results show that the previously unknown phases V 3 GeC 2 and V 4 GeC 3 can be stabilized through alloying with Ti. For films grown on 4H-SiC(0001), (Ti,V) 3 GeC 2 was observed as the dominant phase, showing that the nucleation and growth of (Ti,V) n þ 1 GeC n is affected by the choice of substrate; the proposed underlying physical mechanism is that differences in the local substrate temperature enhance surface diffusion and facilitate the growth of the higher-order phase (Ti,V) 3 GeC 2 compared to (Ti,V) 2 GeC.