MgO(200) highly oriented films on Si(100) synthesized by ambient-controlled pulsed KrF excimer laser deposition method

MgO film growth on Si(100) using the ambient-controlled pulsed KrF excimer laser deposition method has been performed under a wide range of synthesis conditions: oxygen pressure (P-O2) of 10(-6)-10(-3) Torr; substrate temperature (T-sub) of 100-300 degrees C, and laser irradiation energy density on Mg metal target of 0.6-2.0 J/cm(2). MgO(200) pole figures of MgO films are measured by the X-ray (CuK alpha) diffraction method using Schulz's reflection attachment. Almost all MgO films have strong (200)-preferred orientation and rather weak (220)-preferred orientation. The crystallographic relation of the former case is MgO(200)//Si(100) and MgO[011]//Si[011]. MgO film with the highest degree of (200)-preferred orientation was fabricated under the optimized conditions of T-sub = 300 degrees C,energy density=1.5 J/cm(2), and P-O2 = 1 x 10(-4) Torr.