A study of catalyst-based ZnO nanowires growth by PECVD

This paper analyzed the effects of the temperature and plasma on the nucleation and growth of the zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires. Uniformly distributed ZnO nanowires were successfully synthesized through plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) on silicon (100) substrate under different thickness of gold (Au) as the catalyst material. Experimental results were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) showed that the optimum growths of ZnO nanowires were achieved at a higher temperature of 650°C for Au catalyst thickness between range of 2 to 5 nm. It is demonstrated as well that the introduction of plasma affects both the size of the Au nanoparticles formed during the nucleation process and subsequently the density of the ZnO nanowires synthesized during the growth process.