Surface discharge characteristics of MgO thin films prepared by RF reactive magnetron sputtering

摘要

This paper describes the surface glow-discharge effect of MgO thin films prepared by reactive radio-frequency planar magnetron sputtering on the dielectric layer of an alternating-current plasma display panel. By introducing an MgO coating on thedielectric the discharge voltage decreases sharply, although the thickness is only a few tens of Angstroms. The lowest discharge voltage is obtained for the sample prepared at a 30% O{sub}2 content in an O{sub}2 + Ar gas mixture and at a sputtering gaspressure of about 5 mTorr. Moreover, high transparency (~ 95%) is also obtained under the same experimental conditions. The samples prepared show more sputter-resistant properties than samples prepared by the electron-beam method and no cracks areobserved on the surface after post-deposition annealing.