Direct growth of SnO2 nanowires on WOx thin films

Abstract

Single-crystalline SnO2 nanowires were directly grown on an amorphous WOx thin film, leading to the formation of nano-scale contacts with a near-Ohmic conductance. The WOx facilitated the diffusion of SnO2 on the surface of the WOx thin film, and SnO2 nanowires could be uniformly grown from the diffused SnO2. The contact properties between the metallic WOx and a semiconducting SnO2 nanowire were examined. The resistivity of the WOx–SnO2 nanowire contact was found to be approximately 2.6 × 10−5 Ω cm2. This was comparable to the resistivity of a contact between an Al electrode and a SnO2 nanowire with a contact area. A fabricated SnO2 nanowire transistor exhibited an on-current of approximately 386 nA, a threshold voltage of approximately 3.8 V, a subthreshold slope of approximately 0.26 V/dec and a field-effect mobility of approximately 43 cm2 V−1 s−1.