title: Fast synthesis of ultrathin ZnO nanowires by oxidation of Cu/Zn stacks in low-pressure afterglow.
abstract: The synthesis of ultrathin, single-crystalline zinc oxide nanowires was achieved by treating in a flowing microwave plasma oxidation process, zinc films coated beforehand by a sputtered thin buffer layer of copper. The aspect ratio of the nanowires can be controlled by the following experimental parameters: treatment duration, furnace temperature, oxygen concentration. An average diameter of 6 nm correlated with a mean length of 750 nm can be reached with a fairly high surface number density for very short treatments, typically less than 1 min. The oxidized samples are characterized by means of SEM, XRD, SIMS, HRTEM and EDX techniques. Structural characterization reveals that these nanowires are single-crystalline, with the wurtzite phase of ZnO. Nanowires are only composed of ZnO without copper particles inside or at the end of the nanowires. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements confirm that ZnO nanowires are of high crystalline quality and thin enough to produce quantum confinement.
authors.affiliation: Université de Lorraine, Institut Jean Lamour, UMR CNRS 7198, NANCY, F-54011, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Altaweel
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Imam
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ghanbaja
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mangin
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Miska
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gries
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Belmonte