Optical and dielectric properties of CuAl2O4 films synthesized by solid-phase epitaxy

The synthesis and properties of CuAl{sub 2}O{sub 4} thin films have been examined. The CuAl{sub 2}O{sub 4} films were deposited via reactive direct current magnetron sputter using a CuAl{sub 2} target. As-deposited films were amorphous. Post-deposition annealing at high temperature in oxygen yielded solid-phase epitaxy on MgO. The film orientation was cube-on-cube epitaxy on (001) MgO single-crystal substrates. The films were transparent to visible light. The band gap of crystalline CuAl{sub 2}O{sub 4} was determined to be {approx} 4 eV using a Tauc plot from the optical transmission spectrum. The dielectric constant of the amorphous films was determined to be {approx} 20-23 at 1-100 kHz.