ZnO epitaxial layers were grown on low temperature (LT) ZnO buffer layers/p-type Si (100) substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE). The buffer layers were grown with different interrupts (4, 6, 9, and 19 times) in oxygen plasma. The interrupts time for all the samples was kept constant in 2 min. X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were carried out to investigate the structural and optical properties of the ZnO epitaxial layers. The XRD rocking curves of all the samples show the typical peaks such as ZnO (002), Si, and ZnO (004). The XRD peak position was dependent on the interrupts times. The (002) diffraction peak position and the lattice constant of the ZnO epitaxial layer with the interrupts of 9 times were almost in agreement with the unstressed ZnO powder value of 34.43° and 5.2066 Å. The ZnO epitaxial layer with the 9 times of the interrupts also shows a narrower and more symmetric near band edge emission (NBEE) peak shape with a linewidth 111 meV. The SEM observation shows that the as-grown ZnO epitaxial layer grew in columnar shape. The surface morphologies were changed from worm-like shape to columnar shape with decreasing the interrupts times of LT-ZnO buffer layers. The thickness of the ZnO epitaxial layers were also affected by the interrupts times of LT-ZnO buffer layers.

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1. Annealing effects of the initial Zn layers on properties of ZnO thin films grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy
2. Effects of growth interruption of ZnO buffer layer on properties of ZnO epitaxial layer on Si (100)