In the recent years, ZnO was accepted as one of the most promising material for optoelectronic and sensor applications. It is common knowledge that modern microelectronic technology utilizes exclusively silicon. A high-quality epitaxial deposition of ZnO on Si substrates would make it possible to combine various devises based on compound semiconductor with silicon circuitry.

In the present paper, we investigate the process of electrochemical deposition of continuous ZnO films on silicon wafers with thin Ni buffer from aqueous acidic nitrate solutions by the voltammetry method. Experimental data was compared with the data obtained on reproducible bulk platinum electrode. ZnO layers were deposited at 80°C in galvanostatic mode. Structure and composition of the deposited ZnO layers were studied by X-ray diffractometry, and X-ray microanalysis and SEM. Electrodeposited ZnO films were shown to have stoichiometric composition but polycrystalline structure with preferential crystallographic orientation (0002).

Optical properties of the deposited ZnO films were also investigated. ZnO films demonstrated strong photoluminescence in the visible range with maximum at 610 nm. Maximum of the excitation spectra is located at 375 nm (3,3 eV). This value corresponds to ZnO energy band gap. Hence, excitation of photoluminescence occurs via direct band-to-band transition. Potential applications in optoelectronics of the fabricated ZnO films are discussed.

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