ZnO thin films were grown on Si(1 1 1)substrates by employing an epitaxial
ZnS thin film as a buffer layer. The structural and luminescent properties
of the ZnO thin films have been investigated in view of the application to
opto-electronic devices due to near-ultraviolet emission by exciton the bin
ding energy of which is about 60 meV. When the epitaxial ZnS buffer layer w
as grown on the Sil(1 1 1) substrate at a substrate temperature of 200 degr
ees C by electron beam evaporation, the epitaxial ZnO film was successfully
grown on the ZnS/Si(1 1 1) layer with the orientation of (0 0 0 2), [1 1 (
2) over bar 0]ZnO parallel to (1 1 1), [1 (1) over bar 0]Zns parallel to (1
1 1), [1 (1) over bar 0]Si(1 1 1) at a substrate temperature of 400 degree
s C. An excitonic emission with a peak at 3.35 eV at 20 K was successfully
obtained by exciting at 315 nm of He-Cd laser. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevi
er Science B.V. All rights reserved.