Density-controlled growth of aligned ZnO nanowires sharing a common contact: a simple, low-cost, and mask-free technique for large-scale applications.
An effective, low cost, simple, and mask-free pathway is demonstrated for achieving density control of the aligned ZnO nanowires grown for large-scale applications. By a slight variation of the thickness of the thermally evaporated gold catalyst film, a significant change in the density of aligned ZnO nanowires has been controlled. The growth processes of the nanowires on an Al(0.5)Ga(0.5)N substrate has been studied based on the wetting behavior of gold catalyst with or without source vapor, and the results classify the growth processes into three categories: separated dots initiated growth, continuous layer initiated growth, and scattered particle initiated growth. This study presents an approach for growing aligned nanowire arrays on a ceramic substrate with the simultaneous formation of a continuous conducting electrode at the roots, which is important for device applications, such as field emission.
Wang
Xudong
X
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.
Song
Jinhui
J
Summers
Christopher J
CJ
Ryou
Jae Hyun
JH
Li
Peng
P
Dupuis
Russell D
RD
Wang
Zhong L
ZL
D000465:Algorithms; D002384:Catalysis; D006046:Gold; D049449:Luminescence; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry*; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*
D006046:Gold; D015034:Zinc Oxide