Low temperature growth of SnO2 nanowires by electron beam evaporation and their application in UV light detection

Abstract

For the first time, high quality tin oxide (SnO2) nanowires have been synthesized at a low substrate temperature of 450°C via vapor–liquid–solid mechanism using an electron beam evaporation technique. The grown nanowires have shown length of 2–4μm and diameter of 20–60nm. High resolution transmission electron microscope studies on the grown nanowires have shown the single crystalline nature of the SnO2 nanowires. We investigated the effect of growth temperature and oxygen partial pressure on SnO2 nanowires growth. Variation of substrate temperature at a constant oxygen partial pressure of 4×10−4mbar suggested that a temperature equal to or greater than 450°C was the best condition for phase pure SnO2 nanowires growth. The SnO2 nanowires grown on a SiO2 substrate were subjected to UV photo detection. The responsivity and quantum efficiency of SnO2 NWs photo detector (at 10V applied bias) was 12A/W and 45, respectively, for 12μW/cm2 UV lamp (330nm) intensity on the photo detector..