Catalyst-free growth of ZnO nanowires by metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) and thermal evaporation

ZnO nanowires were grown on GaAs(002) substrates using metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) and on Si(001) substrates using thermal evaporation of source powders, respectively. It was demonstrated that well-aligned single crystalline nanowires could be grown with controlled sizes using a typical thin film deposition technique without catalysts. Arsenic doping of the ZnO nanowires grown on GaAs substrate was possible using post-growth heat-treatment, proposing a possible way of producing p-type ZnO nanowires. It was also shown that simplified process of carrier-free thermal evaporation without catalyst could be employed to grow nanowires with high yield while maintaining good crystalline and optical properties. Application potential of the nanowires as probes of atomic force microscopes (AFMs) was discussed by predicting their structural compatibility with AFM cantilevers based on continuum elasticity. It was predicted that the nanowires fabricated herein are structurally compatible with typical AFM cantilevers suggesting that they are promising candidates for high aspect ratio probes.