Indium nitride (InN) films have been grown on lattice matched europium nitride (EuN) buffer layers by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and their structural properties have been investigated. It has been revealed that the growth of EuN films on Al2O3 (0 0 0 1) substrates leads to the formation of polycrystalline EuN films. whereas epitaxial EuN (1 1 1) films grow on MgO (1 1 1) substrates at 860 degrees C. By using the EuN (1 1 1) films as buffer layers for InN growth, we have succeeded in the epitaxial growth of InN (0 0 0 1) films at 490 degrees C with an in-plane epitaxial relationship of [1 1 (2) over bar 0](InN)parallel to[1 (1) over bar 0](EuN)parallel to[1 (1) over bar 0](MgO), which minimized the lattice mismatch between InN and EuN. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.