Epitaxial growth of yittria-stabilized zirconia oxide thin film on natively oxidized silicon wafer without an amorphous layer

By varying oxygen partial pressure during deposition, epitaxial yittria-stabilized zirconia thin films were grown on natively oxidized silicon wafer by the pulsed laser deposition technique. The commensurate crystalline interface was attributed to the lower partial pressure at the initial deposition stage, where the amorphous interfacial oxide is eliminated by the metal Zr (or Y) ions reacting with native silicon oxide on the surface of the silicon substrate. The partial pressure effect on the origin of re-growth of amorphous interfacial oxide is discussed. The results demonstrate that the commensurate crystalline oxide can be obtained by an appropriate deposition process, which sheds light on the fabrication of high-quality crystalline thin films on Si wafers to promote the application of silicon-based electronic technology.