Influence of bias voltage on morphology and structure of MgO thin films prepared by cathodic vacuum arc deposition

MgO thin films with high optical transmittance were prepared by cathodic vacuum arc deposition technique. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction were used to investigate the influences of the negative pulse bias voltage on the composition, the morphology and the crystal structure of MgO thin films, respectively. AFM images show that the grain growth is influenced by high energy ions under bias voltage and that the grains deposited at the pulse bias voltage with set value of |Vp|=600 V stack densely and look the largest as compared to those prepared at different set Vp. The RBS spectra indicate that the Mg/O ratio is about 0.95–1.00 in MgO thin films which is nearly the stoichiometric composition of bulk MgO. The Mg/O ratio increases with set |Vp| until |Vp| is 450 V, and then keeps almost unchanged with set |Vp| up to 750 V. The MgO thin films have a combined orientation of (100) and (110). Below −150 V, the (100) orientation is predominant and the intensity ratio of I220/I200 increases with set |Vp|.