Epitaxial n-ZnO on p-Si with native SiOx reduced by Al overlayer

RF magnetron sputtering has been employed to deposit n-type epitaxial zinc oxide thin films on p-type silicon substrates to form p-n diode structures. Native SiOx layers, Commonly found on silicon, typically of a few nanometer thick, would hinder the epitaxial growth of ZnO. In this work, a crystalline metal oxide overlayer was introduced as a buffer by imposing a reduction reaction on the SiOx layer via oxidation of the metal.