Annealing Effects on MgO Films Grown using e-beam Evaporation

Abstract

Present work investigates the annealing effects on MgO thin films deposited using e-beam evaporation method. MgO thin films of thickness 5 and 50 nm were evaporated from MgO-pellet in ultra-high vacuum (2×10-8 Torr). As deposited thin films exhibit coordination similar to MgO bulk as envisaged from near edge X-ray absorption fine structure measurements. As deposited films were annealed at 300, 400 and 500oC in open environment. Thickness of films remain unaltered with annealing within experimental error. Raman spectroscopic measurements further confirm the presence of bands associated with Mg-O bonding at such low thicknesses.

Approaches to synthesize MgO nanostructures for diverse applications

“…e-beam evaporation was used to grow MgO dielectric layer on glass substrate [ 173 ] as well as to grow MgO barrier layer for MgO based magnetic tunnel junctions [ 174 ] and multilayer structure [ 175 ]. This method is utilized by our group for growth of MgO thin films on quartz substrate [ 176 ] and Si substrate having thickness 5 and 50 nm [ 177 ]. The films grown on Si substrate are amorphous (5 nm) and crystalline (50 nm), in nature respectively [ 178 ].…”