Experimental observation of bulk band dispersions in the oxide semiconductor ZnO using soft x-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

The electronic structure of the oxide semiconductor ZnO has been investigated using soft x-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). The obtained band dispersions within the kx−ky planes reflect the symmetry of the Brillouin zone and show no surface-state-derived flat bands. Band dispersions along the kz direction have also been observed. The obtained band dispersions qualitatively agree with band-structure calculations except for the bandwidth. The observations provide experimental evidence that soft x-ray ARPES enables us to study the bulk band structure of semiconductors.