Characteristics of ZnO Nanorod/ZnO/Si(100) Grown by Hydrothermal Method

Abstract

Nanostructures of ZnO, such as nanowires, nanorods, nanorings, and nanobelts have been actively studied and applied in electronic or optical devices owing to the increased surface to volume ratio and quantum confinement that they provide. ZnO seed layer (about 40 nm thick) was deposited on Si(100) substrate by RF magnetron sputtering with power of 60 W for 5 min. ZnO nanorods were grown on ZnO seed layer/Si(100) substrate at <TEX>$95^{\circ}C$</TEX> for 5 hr by hydrothermal method with concentrations of <TEX>$Zn(NO_3)_2{\cdot}6H_2O$</TEX> [ZNH] and <TEX>$(CH_2)_6N_4$</TEX> [HMT] precursors ranging from 0.02M to 0.1M. We observed the microstructure, crystal structure, and photoluminescence of the nanorods. The ZnO nanorods grew with hexahedron shape to the c-axis at (002), and increased their diameter and length with the increase of precursor concentration. In 0.06 M and 0.08 M precursors, the mean aspect ratio values of ZnO nanorods were 6.8 and 6.5; also, ZnO nanorods had good crystal quality. Near band edge emission (NBE) and a deep level emission (DLE) were observed in all ZnO nanorod samples. The highest peak of NBE and the lower DLE appeared in 0.06 M precursor; however, the highest peak of DLE and the lower peak of NBE appeared in the 0.02 M precursor. It is possible to explain these phenomena as results of the better crystal quality and homogeneous shape of the nanorods in the precursor solution of 0.06 M, and as resulting from the bed crystal quality and the formation of Zn vacancies in the nanorods due to the lack of <TEX>$Zn^{++}$</TEX> in the 0.02 M precursor.