The adsorption and the thermal oxidation of Zn on 6H-SiC surface and the interface formation of ZnO/SiC have been investigated by using synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (SRPES) and X-ray photoemission (XPS). The results show that at the initial stage of Zn adsorption

Zn can capture and bond with O remaining on the SiC surface. With increasing of Zn coverage

the surface exhibits metallic characterization. When the deposited Zn film is annealed at 180℃ in oxygen flux with the pressure of 2.0×10-4 Pa

it could be partly oxidized to form ZnO. Part of Zn atoms could escape from the surface due to its low evaporation temperature in UHV condition. While annealed at 600℃ in same oxygen flux

the total deposited Zn atoms could be oxidized to form ZnO. During annealing process

the substrate is also oxidized

which induces a thin layer of silicon oxide existing at the interface of ZnO/SiC. By using the results of SRPES and XPS

the valence band offset of ZnO/SiC is calculated to be 1.1 eV.