Controlled Lateral Growth of ZnO Nanowires Using a Growth Barrier

We recently reported a technique to grow ZnO nanowires at predefined locations on a planar substrate. In this work, we report an improvement of this technique using a growth barrier to achieve better controlled lateral growth of ZnO nanowires. We evaluated two types of growth barrier, SiO2and Spin-On-Glass (SOG) dielectric, and show that both are effective in confining the growth of ZnO nanowires to a lateral direction. The simple fabrication processes and its compatibility with Si-based fabrication technology make this a viable processing technique for controlled growth of ZnO nanowires laterally across a planar substrate for future integrated nanocircuits.