Replacing silicon with wide bandgap semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC), can lead to high-power, high frequency, robust devices that cannot be made from silicon. To produce these new devices, different materials such as controlled functional oxides and metals need to be integrated as thin films with the silicon carbide. Magnesium Oxide (MgO) is a potential bridging layer between SiC and functional oxides such as barium hexaferrite (BaFe12O19) and lead zirconate titanate (Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3), where the oxygen spacing represents a 1.3 and 4.1 percent mismatch respectively.

Preliminary data has been collected showing that thin, crystalline MgO films can be grown on 6H-SiC surfaces using a remote oxygen plasma and a magnesium effusion cell. Chemical and structural information is collected from in-situ Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED). Ex-situ morphological information is collected from Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The chemical species of the oxygen plasma is being characterized by mass spectroscopy. From preliminary data, oxygen species, oxygen flux to the surface, substrate surface temperature, and surface chemistry each play a role in nucleation mechanisms that determine the final chemistry and morphology of the film.