Selective-area growth and field emission properties of Zinc oxide nanowire micropattern arrays

The patterned growth of ZnO nanowire arrays with different thickness and diameters has been achieved by using a simple method on the silicon substrates. The RF magnetron sputtering and photolithographic patterning processes have been employed to fabricate the patterned Au catalyst film, and the patterned ZnO nanowires with different thickness and diameters were synthesized via thermal evaporation vapor phase transport. The diameters of the as-synthesized ZnO nanowires were scattered in a range of 50–400 nm and a length up to ∼8 μm. The turn-on field of the patterned quasi-perpendicular and random ZnO nanowire at the current density of 0.1 μA/cm2 is 2.4 and 2.8 V/μm, respectively. This approach must have a wide variety of applications such as FE-based flat panel displays, sensor arrays, and optoelectronic devices.