Nair, Sreejith TYang, ZhifeiLee, DooyongGuo, SiluSadowski, Jerzy TJohnson, SpencerSaboor, AbdulLi, YanZhou, HuaComes, Ryan BJin, WencanMkhoyan, Andre KJanotti, AndersonJalan, Bharat2023-04-052023-04-052023-04-05https://hdl.handle.net/11299/253601The files contain the source data for characterizations performed on the Ir/IrO2 and Ru/RuO2 thin films grown in this work. The characterization techniques for which raw files have been provided include X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy line scans and electrical transport measurements. Any additional information can be requested from the corresponding author.In this work, the authors uncover a previously unexplored effect of substrate imposed epitaxial strain on the formation energy of a crystalline epitaxial metal oxide thin film, thereby revealing an additional tuning knob to engineer synthesis of oxide thin films of hard-to-oxidize metals.Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United Stateshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Metal-organic MBEMetal OxidationEpitaxial strain engineeringstrong spin-orbit materialsDatasethttps://doi.org/10.13020/9wm7-x981