ZnO epitaxy on SiC(0001¯) substrate: Comparison with ZnO/SiC(0 0 0 1) heterostructure

► Six-fold crystal symmetry in ZnO/6H-SiC(0 0 0 ± 1) heterostructures is observed with an epitaxial relationship of (0 0 0 2)ZnO||(0 0 0 6)SiC and [112¯0]ZnO||[112¯0]SiC. ► The valence band offsets of ZnO/6H-SiC(0 0 0 1) and ZnO/6H-SiC(0001¯) heterostructures are 1.12 eV and 1.09 eV, leading to the conduction band offset values of 0.75 eV and 0.72 eV, respectively. ► From this experimental comparison, ZnO/6H-SiC(0 0 0 1) heterostructure is found to be superior in structural and optical properties than ZnO/6H-SiC(0 0 0 - 1) heteroepitaxy.