Morphological evolution of ZnO nanowires using varioussubstrates

In recent years, ZnO nanostructures have drawn considerable attentions for the development of futuristic electronic devices due to their superior structural and optical properties. As the growth of ZnO nanowires by MOCVD is a bottom-up technique, the nature of substrates has a vital role for the dimension and alignment of the nanowires. However, in the pursuit of next generation ZnO based nanodevices, it would be highly preferred if well-ordered ZnO nanowires could be obtained on various substrates like sapphire, silicon, glass etc. Vertically aligned nanowires were grown on A and C-plane sapphire substrates, where as nanopencils were obtained on R-plane sapphire substrates. In addition, C-axis oriented vertical nanowires were also found using an interfacial layer(aluminum nitride film) on silicon substrates. On the other hand, long nanowires were found on Ga-doped ZnO film on glass substrates. Structural and optical properties of the ZnO nanowires on various substrates were also investigated.