that the growth temperature plays a key role in the quality of MgO thin films. Reflection high-
energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and atomic force microscopy show that the single-
crystal quality and atomically smooth morphology are optimized for a growth temperature of
250° C. RHEED and transmission electron microscopy indicate that the MgO is (001)
oriented and the MgO unit cell has a 45° in-plane rotation with respect to that of Ge …