Zinc oxide nanoparticles on silicon

Self-assembled ZnO nanoparticles are grown by electron beam evaporation of Zn on silicon oxide and silicon substrates and subsequent annealing in oxygen. Characterization by TEM and EELS shows that the nanoparticles can be zinc oxide single crystals grown with their c-axis perpendicular to the substrate; their distribution, size and crystallinity depend on the deposition parameters of zinc and the growth substrate. We discuss the effect of these parameters on the morphology of the resulting material.