Al 2 O 3 was deposited on In 0.15 Ga 0.85 As/ GaAs using atomic-layer deposition ͑ALD͒. Without any surface preparation or postthermal treatment, excellent electrical properties of Al 2 O 3 / InGaAs/ GaAs heterostructures were obtained, in terms of low electrical leakage current density ͑10 −8 to 10 −9 A/cm 2 ͒ and low interfacial density of states ͑D it ͒ in the range of 10 12 cm −2 eV −1. The interfacial reaction and structural properties studied by high-resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy ͑HRXPS͒ and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy ͑HRTEM͒. The depth profile of HRXPS, using synchrotron radiation beam and low-energy Ar + sputtering, exhibited no residual arsenic oxides at interface. The removal of the arsenic oxides from Al 2 O 3 / InGaAs heterostructures during the ALD process ensures the Fermi-level unpinning, which was observed in the capacitance-voltage measurements. The HRTEM shows sharp transition from amorphous oxide to single crystalline semiconductor.

Ga 2 O 3 ( Gd 2 O 3 ) ∕ Ga As heterostructures have been annealed up to ∼780°C. Studies using x-ray reflectivity and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy have shown that the samples annealed under ultrahigh vacuum have maintained smooth and abrupt interfaces with the interfacial roughness being less than 0.2nm. The oxide remains amorphous, an important parameter for device consideration. Current–voltage and capacitance–voltage measurements have shown low leakage currents (10−8–10−9A∕cm2), a high dielectric constant of 15, and a low interfacial density of states (Dit) between gate dielectrics and GaAs. The attainment of a smooth interface between the gate dielectric and GaAs, even after high temperature annealing for activating implanted dopant, is a must to ensure the low (Dit) and to maintain a high carrier mobility in the channel of the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor.

High-quality ZnO epitaxial films have been grown by pulsed-laser deposition on Si (111) substrates using a nanothick high-k oxide Y2O3 buffer layer. Determined by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, the epitaxial relationship between ZnO and Y2O3 follows (0001)⟨21̅1̅0⟩ZnO||(111)⟨101̅⟩Y2 O3 . ZnO lattice aligns with the hexagonal O sublattice in Y2O3 and the interfacial structure can be well described by domain matching epitaxy with 7 or 8 ZnO {112̅0} planes matching 6 or 7 {44̅0} planes of Y2O3 and lead to a significant reduction of residual strain. Superior optical properties were obtained even for ZnO films as thin as 0.21 μm from photoluminescence results.

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