Density Detection of Aligned Nanowire Arrays Using Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy.

Wenfeng Xiang,Yuan Liu,Kun Zhao,Jiaqi Zhang,Xin Wang

doi:10.1186/s11671-016-1551-1

Wenfeng Xiang, Yuan Liu + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s11671-016-1551-1

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Abstract

A rapid technique is necessary to quantitatively detect the density of nanowire (NW) and nanotube arrays in one-dimensional devices which have been identified as useful building blocks for nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, biomedical devices, etc. Terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy was employed in this research to detect the density of aligned Ni NW arrays. The transmitted amplitude of THz peaks and optical thickness of NW arrays was found to be the effective parameters to analyze the density change of NW arrays. Owing to the low multiple scattering and high order of Ni NW arrays, a linear relationship was observed for the transmitted amplitude and optical thickness regarding NW density, respectively. Therefore, THz technique may be used as a promising tool to characterize the density of one-dimensional structures in the large-scale integrated nanodevice fabrication.

Highlights

Arrays of one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures such as nanowires (NWs) and nanotubes (NTs) are a very attractive option to be used as building blocks for nanoscale electronic, biosensor, chemical detector, etc. [1,2,3]
A number of experimental studies have been reported to explore the impact of NW and NT density on device performance in the context of photoelectric response, nanowire electrical transport studies, gas-phase chemical sensing, and field emission [4,5,6,7]
Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) is a normal and significant THz method based on the THz electric field with time resolution

Summary

Background

Arrays of one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures such as nanowires (NWs) and nanotubes (NTs) are a very attractive option to be used as building blocks for nanoscale electronic, biosensor, chemical detector, etc. [1,2,3]. To realize their full potential in applications, NWs and NTs must be integrated efficiently into various device architectures Many factors, such as NW/NT numbers, diameter, and alignment, should be considered in the process of developing large-scale device fabrication. When the NW arrays have a high density, it is impossible to quantitatively analyze the density distribution of large-scale assembly of NWs and NTs. Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) is a normal and significant THz method based on the THz electric field with time resolution. We investigated the relationship between the optical properties and the aligned Ni NW density using the THz-TDS technique. These results indicated that THz-TDS technique was effective to realize the detection of NW density

Methods

Results and Discussion

Conclusions