Growth studies of (2 2 0), (2 0 0) and (1 1 1) oriented MgO films on Si (0 0 1) without buffer layer

Abstract

Selective growth of single-oriented (2 2 0), (2 0 0) and (1 1 1) MgO films on Si (1 0 0) substrates without buffer layers were obtained with a single crystal MgO target by pulsed laser deposition. All the films are very smooth and free of droplets, especially the surface of (2 2 0) and (2 0 0) oriented MgO films which are atomic-scale smooth. High resolution transmission electron microscopy was used to analyse the interfaces between MgO and Si under various conditions.

Fabrication of Flat MgO(111) Films on Al2O3(0001) Substrates by Pulsed Laser Deposition

“…Recently it has been reported that MgO(111) films grown on Si(100) surfaces by PLD have surfaces with an average roughness (R a ) as large as 4.9 nm at a film thickness of 75 nm, while the R a of (110) and (100) MgO film surfaces prepared similarly are 0.24 and 0.58 nm, respectively. 15) Such a large divergence in the surface roughness is consistent with the strong instability of the MgO(111) plane. Compared with the roughness of those MgO(111) films, the surface roughness in the present study is very small.…”

Epitaxial growth of MgO and Fe∕MgO∕Fe magnetic tunnel junctions on (100)-Si by molecular beam epitaxy

“…[12][13][14] Methods such as laser ablation and magnetron sputtering are more commonly applied as the excess energy involved helps establishing epitaxial correlations. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21] On the other hand, epitaxial growth of MgO on GaAs with e-beam evaporation is well documented in literature [22][23][24] due to much better lattice matching ͑−0.7% ͒. In this letter, we demonstrate the epitaxial growth of thin ͑100͒-MgO films on top of ͑100͒-Si substrates.…”

Sputter-deposited Mg–Al–O thin films: linking molecular dynamics simulations to experiments

“…Al 2 O 3 thin films have also been used as a buffer layer in order to improve the optical properties [7] and in various types of microelectronic devices as a dielectric, diffusion and/or tunnelling barrier [8][9][10]. There are few experimental studies on the structure and properties of MgO, MgAl 2 O 4 and Al 2 O 3 thin films deposited on Si or SiO 2 by different techniques [11][12][13][14][15]. In general, the MgO films were reported to have a crystalline structure with different orientations depending on the substrate temperature [11,13,15].…”

“…There are few experimental studies on the structure and properties of MgO, MgAl 2 O 4 and Al 2 O 3 thin films deposited on Si or SiO 2 by different techniques [11][12][13][14][15]. In general, the MgO films were reported to have a crystalline structure with different orientations depending on the substrate temperature [11,13,15]. The deposited MgAl 2 O 4 , and Al 2 O 3 films were characterized by an amorphous structure [12][13][14][15].…”