UV photodetectors with lateral self-assembled ZnO nanowires grown at low temperature

Abstract

In this paper, a self-assembled lateral growth of ZnO nanowire (NW) photodetector has been successfully synthesized by an aqueous solution method at low temperature (85 degrees C). The growth of ZnO NWs on a silicon substrate with a ZnO seeding layer exhibits single-phase wurtzite ZnO crystal structure, and grows along the c-axis direction. Furthermore, we have demonstrated the current-voltage characteristics and photoresponse of the ZnO NWs with and without UV (325 nm) illumination. Therefore, this low-temperature and simple fabrication process is a viable processing technique to selectively grow lateral ZnO NWs on a flat substrate of any material, with potential applications in flexible NW devices.