Epitaxial growth of CeO2 layers on silicon

CeO2 layer was epitaxially grown for the first time on both (111) and (100) silicon substrates by vacuum evaporation. Characterization using Rutherford backscattering and reflection high-energy electron diffraction proved that a CeO2 layer on (111) Si has considerably good crystalline quality, whereas that on (100)Si contains a large amount of crystallographic defects, especially in the vicinity of the CeO2/Si interface. Auger electron spectroscopy analysis showed a uniform concentration distribution of Ce and O throughout the epitaxial layer.