Epitaxial growth of zinc oxide thin films on silicon

Epitaxial zinc oxide thin films were grown on Si(111) using aluminum nitride and magnesium oxide/titanium nitride buffer layers. The resultant films were examined using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, electrical conductivity, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The following epitaxial relationships were observed in the ZnO/AlN/Si(111) heterostructure: ZnO[0001] parallel AlN[0001] parallel Si[111] along the growth direction, and ZnO[21-bar 1-bar 0] parallel AlN[21-bar 1-bar 0] parallel Si[011-bar] along the in-plane direction. Domain-matching epitaxial growth of TiN on Si(111) substrate allows successful epitaxial growth of MgO and ZnO layers in a ZnO/MgO/TiN/Si(111) heterostructure. The epitaxial relationships observed for this heterostructure were ZnO[0001] parallel MgO/TiN/Si[111] along the growth direction and ZnO[21-bar 1-bar 0] parallel MgO/TiN/Si[011-bar] along in-plane direction. The resultant ZnO films demonstrate excellent electrical and optical properties. ZnO thin films exhibit extremely bright ultraviolet luminescence with relatively weak green-band emission