Dielectrophoretic alignment of ZnO nanoparticles in pre-patterned nanogap electrodes

One of the major challenges in realizing future semiconductors based nanoelectronics is the perfect assembly of semiconducting materials in the nanogap electrodes. The present research article undertakes one of such challenges and reports the assembly of semiconducting ZnO nanoparticles into nanogap electrodes using dielectrophoresis (DEP) process. DEP parameters such as frequency, applied voltage and time are optimized to achieve reliable assembly of ZnO nanoparticles (9 nm) into nanogap electrodes (60 nm). It was observed that under optimized conditions (applied frequency of 150 kHz, applied peak-to-peak voltage of 2-4 V and time longer than 30 s), the yield of assembly of ZnO nanoparticles was ~ 70 %. Dielectrophoretic assembly of ZnO nanoparticles into nanogap electrodes could be useful in realizing devices for nanoelectronics and optoelectronics.