Epitaxial properties of ZnO thin films on LaAlO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition

• Epitaxial wurtzite ZnO films have been grown on (0 0 1)-, (0 1 1)-, and (1 1 1)LaAlO3 (LAO) substrates.
• Nonpolar (1 1 2¯ 0)ZnO films with two orthogonal domains were obtained on (0 0 1) LAO.
• For ZnO on (0 1 1)- and (1 1 1)LAO substrates, a single-domain epitaxy was observed.

Wurtzite ZnO thin films with different epitaxial relationships have been grown on (0 0 1)-, (0 1 1)-, and (1 1 1)LaAlO3 (LAO) single-crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Nonpolar (1 1 2¯ 0)ZnO films with two orthogonal domains were obtained on (0 0 1) LAO, in which the in-plane orientation relationship is demonstrated to be 〈0 0 0 1〉ZnO//〈1 1 0〉LAO. For ZnO on (0 1 1)- and (1 1 1)LAO substrates, a single-domain epitaxy with c axial orientation is observed, in which the in-plane relationships were 〈1 1¯ 0 0〉ZnO//〈0 1 1¯〉LAO irrespective of the substrate orientations. Based on the in-plane orientation relationship, the lattice mismatch has been obtained for these three oriented ZnO/LAO heterointerfaces.