Control of polarity of heteroepitaxial ZnO films by interface engineering

Control of polarity of heteroepitaxial ZnO films has been examined by interface engineering. ZnO films were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on Ga-polar GaN template and c-plane sapphire substrates. Polarity of all the samples is determined by coaxial impact collision ion scattering spectroscopy. Zn- and O-polar ZnO films have successfully grown by Zn- and O-plasma pre-exposures on Ga-polar GaN templates prior to ZnO growth. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed formation of a single-crystalline monoclinic Ga₂O₃ interface layer by O-plasma pre-exposure on Ga-polar GaN templates, while no interface layer was observed for Zn pre-exposed ZnO films. The polarity of ZnO films grown under oxygen ambient on c-plane sapphire with MgO buffer is revealed as O-polar. Fabrication of polarity inverted ZnO heterostructure has been studied: polarity of ZnO films on Ga-polar GaN templates was changed from Zn-polar to O-polar by inserting a MgO layer. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed atomically flat interfaces at both lower and upper ZnO/MgO interfaces and no inversion domain boundaries were detected in the upper ZnO layer.