MOCVD growth of ZnO nanowire arrays for advanced UV detectors

摘要

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a biocompatible and versatile functional material having a bandgap of 3.37 eV that exhibits both semiconducting and piezoelectric properties and has a diverse group of growth morphologies. We have grown highly ordered vertical arrays of ZnO nanowires (NWs) using a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth process on various substrates. The NWs were grown on p-Si (100), SiO_2, and m-plane sapphire substrates. The structural and optical properties of the grown vertically aligned ZnO NW arrays were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The unique diffraction pattern for ZnO (002) concurred with the SEM inspection indicating vertical orientation of the NWs. UV detectors based on ZnO NWs offer high UV sensitivity and low visible sensitivity for applications such as missile plume detection and threat warning. Compared to the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) prevalent in current missile warning systems, the NW detector arrays are expected to exhibit low noise, extended lifetimes, and low power requirements for UV detector applications.