Indium nitride (InN) layers were grown on (111) silicon substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering using an indium target. Atomic force microscope, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy analysis revealed that highly c-axis preferred wurtzite InN layers with very smooth surface can be obtained on (111) silicon substrates at a substrate temperature as low as 100 degrees C. The results indicate that the reactive sputtering is a promising growth technique for obtaining InN layers on silicon substrates at low substrate temperature with low cost and good compatibility with microelectronic silicon-based devices. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.