We have synthesized stoichiometric Ba(Cd1/3Ta2/3)O-3 [BCT] (100) dielectric thin films on MgO (100) substrates using Pulsed Laser Deposition. Over 99% of the BCT film was found to be epitaxial [BCT (100) parallel to MgO (100) and BCT (010) parallel to MgO (010)] when grown with an elevated substrate temperature of 635 degrees C, an enhanced oxygen pressure of 53 Pa and a Cd-enriched BCT target with a 1 mol BCT: 1.5 mol CdO composition. A dielectric constant of 32 was inferred from low-frequency capacitance measurements of a planar inter-digital metal pattern. Analysis of ultra violet optical absorption results indicates that BCT has a bandgap of 4.9 eV; while the interference pattern in the visible range is consistent with a refractive index of 2.1. Temperature-dependent electrical measurements indicate that the BCT films have a room temperature conductivity of 3x10(-12) Omega(-1) cm(-1) with a thermal activation energy of 0.7 eV. A mean particle size of similar to 100 nm and a root mean square surface roughness of 5 to 6 nm were measured using Atomic Force Microscopy. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.