Conventional electroplating of aluminum on silicon often requires a seed layer to overcome the high resistivity of the substrate. In this paper, light-induced plating of aluminum directly on a silicon substrate in an ionic liquid is reported. Without any seed layer, the deposited aluminum has good adhesion to the silicon surface. The resistivity of the aluminum deposits is as low as 4 x 10(-6 )Omega-cm, which is only about 1.5 times that of bulk aluminum. The suitable wavelength for the light source is 600 nm to 1,000 nm. The effect of plating temperature on morphology of the aluminum deposits is analyzed. (C) The Author(s) 2018. Published by ECS.