High performance field-effect transistors fabricated with laterally grown ZnO nanorods in solution

We have exploited a method for the lateral growth of multiple ZnO nanorods between electrodes in solution without the use of a metal catalyst to fabricate high performance field-effect transistors (FETs). This method enables us to directly align overlapped or overlap-free nanowires between electrodes by eliminating the vertical growth components and complex structural networks. The overlap-free ZnO nanorod FETs showed better performance with a mobility of ～ 8.5 cm(2) V( - 1) s( - 1) and an on/off ratio of ～ 4 × 10(5) than the overlapped ZnO nanorod FETs having a mobility of ～ 5.3 cm(2) V( - 1) s( - 1) and an on/off ratio of ～ 3 × 10(4). All the FETs fabricated in this work showed much better performance than the previously reported solution-based ZnO FETs.     

Fabrication and characterization of Mg-doped ZnO nanorod arrays

Photoelectronic characteristics are investigated in well-aligned MgO-coated ZnO nanorods (MgO/ZnO nanocables) grown on Si substrates buffered with ZnO film at a low temperature by solution techniques. Transmission electron microscopy shows that a rough surface was observed for the MgO-coated ZnO nanorods due to deposition of MgO nanoparticles on the surface of the ZnO nanorods. However, after annealed at high temperatures, the surface of the MgO-coated ZnO nanorods was flattened to form Mg-doped ZnO nanorods. Photoluminescence spectra of Mg-doped ZnO nanorods displayed a blue shift of the near-band-edge emission with increasing annealing temperature indicative of an increase in the band gap of the MgZnO alloy due to diffusion of the Mg atoms into the ZnO nanorods. In contrast, no blue shift was detected for the samples annealed in H2/N2 (5%/95%) reduction atmosphere but a blue emission was detected at 800 degrees C, indicating that MgO diffusion process may produce a new luminescent center to emit the blue emission in H2/N2 reduction atmosphere.     

Self-aligned ballistic n-type single-walled carbon nanotube field-effect transistors with adjustable threshold voltage

Near ballistic n-type single-walled carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (SWCNT FETs) have been fabricated with a novel self-aligned gate structure and a channel length of about 120 nm on a SWCNT with a diameter of 1.5 nm. The device shows excellent on- and off-state performance, including high transconductance of up to 25 microS, small subthreshold swing of 100 mV/dec, and gate delay time of 0.86 ps, suggesting that the device can potentially work at THz regime. Quantitative analysis on the electrical characteristics of a long channel device fabricated on the same SWCNT reveals that the SWCNT has a mean-free-path of 191 nm, and the electron mobility of the device reaches 4650 cm(2)/Vs. When benchmarked by the metric CV/ I vs Ion/Ioff, the n-type SWCNT FETs show significantly better off-state leakage than that of the Si-based n-type FETs with similar channel length. An important advantage of this self-aligned gate structure is that any suitable gate materials can be used, and in particular it is shown that the threshold voltage of the self-aligned n-type FETs can be adjusted by selecting gate metals with different work functions.     

Parallel core-shell metal-dielectric-semiconductor germanium nanowires for high-current surround-gate field-effect transistors

Core-shell germanium nanowires (GeNW) are formed with a single-crystalline Ge core and concentric shells of nitride and silicon passivation layer by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), an Al2O3 gate dielectric layer by atomic layer deposition (ALD), and an Al metal surround-gate (SG) shell by isotropic magnetron sputter deposition. Surround-gate nanowire field-effect transistors (FETs) are then constructed using a novel self-aligned fabrication approach. Individual SG GeNW FETs show improved switching over GeNW FETs with planar gate stacks owing to improved electrostatics. FET devices comprised of multiple quasi-aligned SG GeNWs in parallel are also constructed. Collectively, tens of SG GeNWs afford on-currents exceeding 0.1 mA at low source-drain bias voltages. The self-aligned surround-gate scheme can be generalized to various semiconductor nanowire materials.     

Electrodeposition of template free hierarchical ZnO nanorod arrays via a chloride medium

We have successfully grown template and buffer free ZnO nanorod films via chloride medium by controlling bath temperature in a simple and cost effective electrochemical deposition method. Thin films of ZnO nano-rods were obtained by applying a potential of ?0.75 V by employing Ag/AgCl reference electrode for 4 h of deposition time. The CV measurements were carried out to determine potential required to deposit ZnO nanorod films whereas chronoamperometry studies were carried out to investigate current and time required to deposit ZnO nanorod films. The formation of ZnO nanorod has been confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy. Low angle XRD analysis confirms that ZnO nanorod films have preferred orientation along (101) direction with hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure. The SEM micrographs show nice surface morphology with uniform, dense and highly crystalline hexagonal ZnO nanorods formation. Bath temperature has a little influence on the orientation of nanorods but has a great impact on their aspect ratio. Increase in bath temperature show improvement in crystallinity, increase in diameter and uniform distribution of nanorods. Compositional analysis shows that the amount of oxygen is ~49.35 % and that of Zn is ~50.65 %. The optical band gap values were found to be 3.19 and 3.26 eV for ZnO nanorods prepared at bath temperature 70 and 80 °C respectively. These results indicate that by controlling the bath temperature band gap of ZnO nanorods can be tailored. The obtained results suggest that it is possible to synthesize ZnO nanorod films by a simple, cost effective electrodeposition process which can be useful for opto-electronic devices fabrication.     

电沉积ZnO纳米柱的光学带隙与非辐射复合EI北大核心CSCD

为实现ZnO纳米柱阵列材料在新型纳米结构化太阳能电池中的应用,需要对纳米柱的几何形貌与光电特性进行调控。ZnO纳米柱阵列材料的制备方法为电化学沉积方法。通过在生长溶液中使用In(NO_(3))_(3)和NH_(4)NO_(3),实现了对纳米柱的直径、阵列密度、柱间距、光学带隙、近带边发射、斯托克斯位移等物理性质的调控。采用扫描电子显微镜、X射线衍射仪、分光光度计、光致发光测试仪对样品的形貌、晶体性质、透射反射性质、光致发光性质进行测试与表征。结果表明,使用NH_(4)NO_(3)将紧密排列的ZnO纳米柱阵列密度降低了51%,导致柱间距增大至超过100 nm,同时可将纳米柱的直径降低至22 nm。使用In(NO_(3))_(3)使ZnO纳米柱的光学带隙展宽100 meV。通过NH_(4)NO_(3)的使用可在3.41 eV至3.55 eV范围内调控带隙。由于NH_(4)NO_(3)的引入,ZnO纳米柱的斯托克斯位移可降低至19 meV,表明NH_(4)NO_(3)的引入能够有效地抑制纳米柱阵列中的非辐射复合。     

Site-specific multi-stage CVD of large-scale arrays of ultrafine ZnO nanorods

Multi-stage growth of ZnO nanorod arrays has been carried out by Au-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in order to better understand and more precisely control the growth behaviors. It is evidenced that Au-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth only dominates the initial site-specific nucleation of the nanorods, while the subsequent growth is governed by a vapor-solid (VS) epitaxy mechanism. The sequential VLS and VS behaviors permit the fabrication of large-scale highly ordered arrays of ZnO nanorods with precisely tunable diameters and embedded junctions by controlling reactant concentration and nanorod top morphology. Based on the above results, two routes to fabricate ultrafine ZnO nanorod arrays are proposed and stepwise nanorod arrays with ultrafine top segment (~10 nm in diameter) have been achieved. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) and spatial resolved PL were carried out on the nanorod arrays and on individual nanorods, indicating high quality optical properties and tunable light emission along the length of the stepwise nanorods.     

Charge influence and growth mechanism of ZnO nanorods

We demonstrate the influence of charges near the substrate surface on vertically aligned ZnO nanorod growth. ZnO nanorods were fabricated on n-type GaN with and without H+ treatments by catalyst-free metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. The ZnO nanorods grown on n-GaN films were vertically well-aligned and had a well-ordered wurtzite structure. However, the ZnO did not form into nanorods and the crystal quality was very degraded as they were deposited on the H+ treated n-GaN films. The charge influence was also observed in the ZnO nanorod growth on sapphire substrates. These results implied that the charges near the substrate surface dominantly affected on the crystalization and formation of ZnO nanorods.     

Selective formation of GaN-based nanorod heterostructures on soda-lime glass substrates by a local heating method

We report on the fabrication of high-quality GaN on soda-lime glass substrates, heretofore precluded by both the intolerance of soda-lime glass to the high temperatures required for III-nitride growth and the lack of an epitaxial relationship with amorphous glass. The difficulties were circumvented by heteroepitaxial coating of GaN on ZnO nanorods via a local microheating method. Metal-organic chemical vapor deposition of ZnO nanorods and GaN layers using the microheater arrays produced high-quality GaN/ZnO coaxial nanorod heterostructures at only the desired regions on the soda-lime glass substrates. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy examination of the coaxial nanorod heterostructures indicated the formation of an abrupt, semicoherent interface. Photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence spectroscopy was also applied to confirm the high optical quality of the coaxial nanorod heterostructures. Mg-doped GaN/ZnO coaxial nanorod heterostructure arrays, whose GaN shell layers were grown with various different magnesocene flow rates, were further investigated by using photoluminescence spectroscopy for the p-type doping characteristics. The suggested method for fabrication of III-nitrides on glass substrates signifies potentials for low-cost and large-size optoelectronic device applications.     

Charge influence and growth mechanism of ZnO nanorods

We demonstrate the influence of charges near the substrate surface on vertically aligned ZnO nanorod growth. ZnO nanorods were fabricated on n-type GaN with and without H+ treatments by catalyst-free metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. The ZnO nanorods grown on n-GaN films were vertically well-aligned and had a well-ordered wurtzite structure. However, the ZnO did not form into nanorods and the crystal quality was very degraded as they were deposited on the H+ treated n-GaN films. The charge influence was also observed in the ZnO nanorod growth on sapphire substrates. These results implied that the charges near the substrate surface dominantly affected on the crystallization and formation of ZnO nanorods.     

Positive temperature coefficient of resistance of single ZnO nanorods

ZnO nanorods were synthesized by a simple aqueous solution method. Crystal structures and morphology studies show that the ZnO nanorods are single crystalline with the growth direction aligned with the c axis of ZnO. An Au-ZnO nanorod-Au (metal-semiconductor-metal, MSM) device using the synthesized nanorod was fabricated. An electronic model with two back-to-back Schottky diodes in series with a nanorod was used to describe the electrical transport of the MSM device. A positive temperature coefficient of resistance is observed on a single ZnO nanorod from 383 to 473 K. A simple model has been proposed to explain such an abnormal behavior including the effect of the interface states and the adsorption-desorption of the water/oxygen molecules on the surface of the nanorod.     

Effects of Mg-contents and substrate parameters on structure and optical properties of Mg-doped ZnO nanorods fabricated by hydrothermal method

Mg-doped ZnO nanorods with different contents have been fabricated on various substrates by hydrothermal method. The effects of Mg-contents and different substrates on structural and optical properties are analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence (PL) spectra, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The results reveal that the Mg-doped ZnO nanorods possess good crystalline quality and morphology when the molar ratio of Mg/Zn is 1. The PL spectra show that the UV emissions have an obvious blue shift with the increase of Mg-content. The results of investigation for the samples grown on different substrates show that the crystal quality and morphology of the samples grown on ZnO layer are perfect, and the UV emission also occurs blue shift owing to the effects of different substrates.     

Effects of Metal-Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition grown seed layer on the fabrication of well aligned ZnO nanorods by Chemical Bath Deposition

Well aligned, long and uniform ZnO nanorods have been reproducibly fabricated adopting a two-steps Metal-Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition (MOCVD) and Chemical Bath Deposition (CBD) fabrication approaches. Thin (< 100 nm) ZnO buffer layers have been seeded on silicon substrates by MOCVD and ZnO layers have been subsequently grown, in form of well textured nanorods, using CBD. It has been found that the structure and thickness of the seed layer strongly influence the final morphology and the crystal texturing of ZnO nanorods as well as the CBD growth rate. There is, in addition, a strong correlation between morphologies of CBD grown ZnO nanorods and those of the seed layer underneath. Thus, nanorods deposited over low temperature MOCVD buffer layers are less homogeneous in lateral dimensions and poorly vertically oriented. On the contrary, higher temperature nano-dimensional ZnO seeds favour the CBD growth of almost mono-dimensional homologue nanorods, with an adequate control of the lateral transport of matter. The nanorod aspect ratio values decrease upon increasing the deposition temperatures of the seed layers. Moreover, the nanorods length can be tailored either by adjusting the CBD growth time or by changing concentration of the N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine ligand used in the CBD process. In particular, at high concentrations, the CBD process is faster with a greater global aspect ratio in agreement with a preferential one-dimensional growth of the ZnO nanostructures. Finally, these ZnO nanorod arrays possess good optical quality in accordance to the photoluminescence properties.     

Growth of well-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays on Si substrates by thermal evaporation of Cu-Zn alloy powders

Well-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays with uniform diameters and lengths have been fabricated on a Si substrate by simple thermal evaporation of Cu-Zn alloy powders in the presence of oxygen without using a template, catalyst, or pre-deposited ZnO seed layer. The ZnO nanorods are characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the growth mechanism is suggested. The nanorods have a single-crystal hexagonal structure and grow along the (0001) direction. Their diameters range from 200 to 400 nm and the lengths are up to several micrometers. The photoluminescence (PL) and Raman spectra disclose the optical properties of the products. The PL spectra show intense near-band ultraviolet emission at 378 nm from the nanorod arrays. The well-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays have a low turn-on field of 6.1 V/microm, suggesting good field emission properties. The simple synthesis methodology in conjunction with the good field emission and optical properties make the study both scientifically and technologically interesting.     

VO2(B)/ZnO异质复合纳米棒结构的室温NH3敏感性能研究

以VO₂(B)纳米棒为内核, 利用液相生长法制备了VO₂(B)/ZnO异质复合纳米棒, 研究了ZnO生长溶液浓度对复合结构微观形貌和气敏性能的影响规律。采用扫描电子显微镜和X射线衍射仪对复合结构样品的微观形貌和结晶取向进行表征, 并测试了复合结构对NH₃的敏感性能。实验结果表明, 随着ZnO种子液浓度的增大, ZnO逐渐由纳米颗粒生长为纳米棒结构, 当ZnO种子液浓度为0.01 mol/L时, ZnO呈棒状沿径向发散生长在VO₂(B)纳米棒表面, 形成树枝状VO₂(B)/ZnO异质复合纳米棒结构, 这一结构在室温下表现出对NH₃的高灵敏度和突出的选择性, 其灵敏度最大可达5.6, 对NH₃的响应时间最短仅为2 s。在室温下表现出的优良NH₃敏感性能, 主要与高密度的VO₂(B)/ZnO异质结和树枝状结构有关。研究结果为低功耗高灵敏度NH₃气敏传感器的研制提供了重要依据。     

Experimental study on the subthreshold swing of silicon nanowire transistors

SOI based wrap-gate silicon nanowire FETs are fabricated through electron beam lithography and wet etching. Dry thermal oxidation is used to further reduce the patterned fins cross section and transfer them into nanowires. Silicon nanowire FETs with different nanowire widths varying from 60 nm to 200 nm are fabricated and the number of the nanowires contained in a channel is also varied. The on-current (I(ON)) and off-current (I(OFF)) of the fabricated silicon nanowire FET are 0.59 microA and 0.19 nA respectively. The subthreshold swing (SS) and the drain induced barrier lowering are 580 mV/dec and 149 mV/V respectively due to the 30 nm thick gate oxide and 10(15) cm(-3) lightly doped silicon nanowire channel. The nanowire width dependence of SS is shown and attributed to the fact that the side-gate parts of a wrap gate play a more effectual role as the nanowires in a channel get narrower. It seems the nanowire number in a channel has no effect on SS because the side-gate parts fill in the space between two adjacent nanowires.     

CuO nanoparticle decorated ZnO nanorod sensor for low-temperature H2S detection

CuO nanoparticle decorated porous ZnO nanorods were synthesized via a two-stage solution process. First, porous ZnO nanorods were fabricated by a low-temperature hydrothermal method. Afterward, the porous ZnO nanorods were used as supports to load CuO nanoparticles by a non-aqueous solution method. The morphology and structure of the prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). To demonstrate the practical application of the synthesized heterostructured porous CuO/ZnO nanorod hybrid, the sensing properties for H₂S at low operating temperatures were investigated. The high sensitivity, reversible response and good selectivity indicated its potential application as a chemical sensor.     

Influence of the polymer dielectric characteristics on the performance of a quaterthiophene organic field-effect transistor

Organic field-effect transistors were fabricated with quaterthiophene as the active material and various polymeric dielectrics as the gate insulator. The conduction parameters such as mobility, threshold voltage, subthreshold swing, the maximum density of surface states etc. were found out. The performances of the devices were compared with respect to the dielectric constant, thickness and surface morphology of the gate insulator and the leakage current through the gate. Out of the three dielectrics investigated viz. parylene-C, cyanoethylpullulan and poly(methylmethacrylate); parylene-C was found to be best suited for applications in organic FETs. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Facile synthesis of Ag/ZnO nanorods using Ag/C cables as templates and their gas-sensing properties

A solid-state chemical reaction with the assistance of Ag/C nanocables was implemented for the preparation of Ag/ZnO nanorods. This is the first time Ag/ZnO nanorods are fabricated by using Ag/C cables as template. Compared with the traditional organic surfactant, Ag/C cable is a new and effective template to control the shape of precursors in the solid-state reaction under ambient conditions. The results of systematical gas-sensing studies demonstrate that the sensor based on Ag/ZnO nanorod materials has high sensitivity, good selectivity and short response and reversion time to ethanol. It demonstrates that Ag/ZnO nanorods can be used as gas-sensing material.     

Catalyst-free synthesis of ZnO nanorod arrays on InP (001) substrate by pulsed laser deposition

High-density well-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays were successfully fabricated on ZnO a seed-layer coated InP (001) substrate by using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique without metal catalyst. SEM image showed that uniformly distributed droplet-like ZnO seed-layer was formed on the InP wafer. Well-oriented ZnO nanorods were formed perpendicular to the seed-layer coated substrate and well-separated from each other. X-ray diffraction θ-2θ scanning measurements demonstrated that the ZnO nanorods exhibited a strong c-axis orientation with high crystalline quality. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum measurement illuminated that the ZnO nanorods produced in this work had well optical quality. The well-aligned and separated ZnO nanorods fabricated by this comparatively simple technique shed light on further applications for nanodevices.