  Developing new material platforms for use in superconductor-semiconductor
hybrid structures is desirable due to limitations caused by intrinsic microwave
losses present in commonly used III/V material systems. With the recent reports
that tantalum provides drastic improvements when implemented in superconducting
circuit elements over traditional Nb and Al films, exploring Ta as an
alternative superconductor in hybrid material systems seems necessary. Here, we
present our study on the growth of Ta on semiconducting Ge (001) substrates
grown via molecular beam epitaxy. We show that the Ta diffuses into the Ge
matrix in a self-limiting nature resulting in extremely smooth and abrupt
surfaces and interfaces that are ideal for future cQED device fabrication. The
films have a nominal composition of TaGe$_{2}$ and form a native oxide of
nominal composition Ta$_{2}$Ge$_{2}$O$_{5}$ that also forms a sharp interface
with the underlying film. These films are superconducting with a $T_{C}\sim
1.8-2$K and $H_{C}^{\perp} \sim 1.88T$, $H_{C}^{\parallel} \sim 5.1T$.
