The effects of oxygen pressure and silicon substrate temperature on the formation of zirconia, ceria and ceria-stabilised zirconia layers have been studied by electron microscopy. The composition of the layers and the interaction at the oxide/silicon interface have been analysed using Auger electron spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. The conditions of the epitaxial growth of cerium-stabilised zirconia films produced by laser ablation have been found. A good matching of lattice parameters may allow the use of these oxides as buffer layers for high temperature superconductive film epitaxy on silicon wafers.