We report on catalyst-free growth of ZnO nanorods and their nano-scale electrical and optical device applications. Catalyst-free metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) enables fabrication of size-controlled high purity ZnO single crystal nanorods. Various high quality nanorod heterostructures and quantum structures based on ZnO nanorods were also prepared using the MOVPE method and characterized using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and optical spectroscopy. From the photoluminescence spectra of ZnO/Zn_0.8Mg_0.2O nanorod multi-quantum-well structures, in particular, we observed a systematic blue-shift in their PL peak position due to quantum confinement effect of carriers in nanorod quantum structures. For ZnO/ZnMgO coaxial nanorod heterostructures, photoluminescence intensity was significantly increased presumably due to surface passivation and carrier confinement. In addition to the growth and characterizations of ZnO nanorods and their quantum structures, we fabricated nanoscale electronic devices based on ZnO nanorods. We report on fabrication and device characteristics of metal-oxidesemiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), Schottky diodes, and metal-semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFETs) as examples of the nanodevices. In addition, electroluminescent devices were fabricated using vertically aligned ZnO nanorods grown p-type GaN substrates, exhibiting strong visible electroluminescence.

Date Published: 12 November 2005
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 6003, Nanostructure Integration Techniques for Manufacturable Devices, Circuits, and Systems: Interfaces, Interconnects, and Nanosystems, 600301 (12 November 2005); doi: 10.1117/12.637952

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6003:
Nanostructure Integration Techniques for Manufacturable Devices, Circuits, and Systems: Interfaces, Interconnects, and Nanosystems
Minoru M. Freund; M. Saif Islam; Achyut K. Dutta, Editor(s)