ZnO nanowires strips growth: Template reliability and morphology study

• ZnO NWs strips are synthesized by hydrothermal growth using EBL resist template.
• Resist adhesion and stability during the wet growth were studied.
• MMA/MAA template showed best adhesion to the substrate and stability during growth.
• NWs dimensions in strips increased by increasing growth time and temperature.
• NWs length and diameter decreased by increasing template strips width.

In this work we report on hydrothermal growth of ZnO nanostructures obtained by using strip-shaped resist templates made by electron beam lithography, with particular focus on: (i) the effects of materials used and processing on the template adhesion and its stability during wet growth; (ii) the influence of the template pattern dimensions on the nanowires morphology. Templates made of patterned films with methylmethacrylate–methacrylic acid copolymer showed greater adhesion and stability with respect to the commonly used poly (methylmethacrylate) electron resist or to the use of thin adhesion-promoter photoresist layers. The growth of nanowires in strip-shaped methyl methacrylate–methacrylic acid copolymer templates has been investigated using typical hydrothermal growth parameters and a marked dependence of nanowires length and diameter has been found on the template size for strips narrower than about 2 μm.

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