Low temperature growth of SnO2 nanowires by electron beam evaporation and their application in UV light detection

For the first time, high quality tin oxide (SnO2) nanowires have been synthesized at a low substrate temperature of 450 °C via vapor–liquid–solid mechanism using an electron beam evaporation technique. The grown nanowires have shown length of 2–4 μm and diameter of 20–60 nm. High resolution transmission electron microscope studies on the grown nanowires have shown the single crystalline nature of the SnO2 nanowires. We investigated the effect of growth temperature and oxygen partial pressure on SnO2 nanowires growth. Variation of substrate temperature at a constant oxygen partial pressure of 4 × 10−4 mbar suggested that a temperature equal to or greater than 450 °C was the best condition for phase pure SnO2 nanowires growth. The SnO2 nanowires grown on a SiO2 substrate were subjected to UV photo detection. The responsivity and quantum efficiency of SnO2 NWs photo detector (at 10V applied bias) was 12 A/W and 45, respectively, for 12 μW/cm2 UV lamp (330 nm) intensity on the photo detector..

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► First time, SnO2 nanowires growth has been done by e-beam evaporation method.
► The growth of SnO2 nanowires has been taken at low substrate temperature of 450 °C.
► Grown nanowires were single crystalline in nature and pure.
► Fabricated photo detector has shown reproducible photo response to UV light.