Formation of single crystalline ZnO nanowires through the oxidation of granular zinc film

ZnO nanowires were fabricated using a two-step procedure: sputter deposition of Zn followed by an ex-situannealing in an oxygen flow at 500°C. After subsequent annealing in an oxygen atmosphere, ZnO nanowires werefound to grow from individual Zn nanograins. In this study, we investigated the influence of oxygen flow during theannealing process on the quality of the resultant ZnO nanowires and found that the single crystalline ZnO nanowiresobtained from annealing at 500 °C in oxygen flow with the rate of 60 sccm, had a mean diameter of less than 120 nmand mean length of more than 10 μm. With an aspect ratio of about 80, these nanowires can be said to have suitableaspect ratio for industrial purpose.

Keywords:

ZnO nanowires , sputtering , deposit , Thermal oxidation