Crystal Growth and Interfacial Characterization of Dielectric BaZrO3 Thin Films on Si Substrates

The growth of single crystalline oxides on silicon substrates still remains a subject of significant technological interest, since fruitful achievements can be expected by their use in various silicon device technologies. We have examined the possibility of the epitaxial growth of BaZrO3 films on Si(001) substrates by pulsed laser beam deposition. It was found that the 3-ML-thick Ba-rich Ba–Zr–O layer could act as an excellent buffer layer leading to epitaxial growth of the subsequently deposited stoichiometric BaZrO3 layer. We succeeded in obtaining the heteroepitaxially grown BaZrO3 films on Si(001) substrates.