Magnesium oxide Magnesium oxide Magnesium oxide (MgO), or magnesia, is a white hygroscopic solid mineral that occurs naturally as periclase and is a source of magnesium (see also oxide). It has an empirical formula of and consists of a lattice of Mg ions and O ions held together by ionic bonding. Magnesium hydroxide forms in the presence of water (MgO + HO → Mg(OH)), but it can be reversed by heating it to separate moisture. Magnesium oxide was historically known as magnesia alba (literally, the white mineral from magnesia – other sources give magnesia alba as MgCO), to differentiate it from "magnesia
Equivalent oxide thickness Equivalent oxide thickness An Equivalent oxide thickness is a distance, usually given in nanometers (nm), which indicates how thick a silicon oxide film would need to be to produce the same effect as the high-κ material being used. The term is often used when describing field effect transistors which rely on an electrically insulating pad of material between a gate and a doped semiconducting region. Device performance has typically been improved by reducing the thickness of a silicon oxide insulating pad. As the thickness approached 5–10 nm, leakage became a problem and alternate materials were necessary to increase the thickness