Proton implantation effect on CdSe nanowires

Semiconducting nanowires represent an exclusive system for analyzing phenomena at the nanoscale and are also believed to play an important role in future nanoscale electronic and optoelectronic devices. The one dimensional nanostructures bring about significant alterations in their properties on implantation; depending on the energy, dose and fluence of the bombarding ions. In this view, effects of implantation with 250 keV protons on structural, optical and electrical properties of CdSe nanowires of 80 nm were studied for different fluencies. Implantation led to substantial change in the electrical conductivity at various fluencies as compared to pristine which may be attributed to the ionization effects. A drop in conductivity value above fluence of 10¹² ions/cm² may be ascribed to the passivation of some donor levels due to the presence of hydrogen. The optical band gap was also found to vary with implantation. This study opens up new avenues for research to modulate opto-electronic properties of CdSe nanowires for the novel device applications.