ZnO epitaxy on (111) Si using epitaxial Lu2O3 buffer layers

We report the growth and characterization of single-crystalline, crack-free, epitaxial (0001) ZnO films on (111) Si substrates using intervening epitaxial Lu(2)O(3) buffer layers. The epitaxial orientation relationships are (0001)(ZnO)parallel to(111)(Lu2)O(3)parallel to(111)(Si) and [1 (2) over bar 10](ZnO)parallel to[(1) over bar 10](Lu2)O(3)parallel to[1 (1) over bar0](Si). X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy reveal that the ZnO films have high structural quality and an atomically sharp ZnO/Lu(2)O(3) interface. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements show optical properties comparable to ZnO single crystals. The films have a resistivity of 0.31 Omega cm, an electron concentration of 2.5x10(17) cm(-3), and a mobility of 80 cm(2)/V center dot s at room temperature. The epitaxial growth of ZnO on Si represents a significant step toward the integration of ZnO-based multifunctional devices with Si electronics. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.