Self-Assembled ZNO Nanowires Via Local Vapor Transport Synthesis as UV Sensor

A localized synthesis and self-assembly process for ZnO nanowires has been demonstrated using "on-chip local vapor transport." These single-crystal ZnO nanowires of 50-60 nm in average diameter are grown by the solid-source inductive heating method in a room temperature chamber. Nanowires are connected between two suspended MEMS microstructures which are fabricated by a silicon-on-insulator process. These two-terminal ZnO nanowires have good contact to silicon microstructures and are readily for applications, such as gas sensing, light detection and mechanical actuation. Results of UV sensing experiments show the conductance of these wide-bandgap ZnO nanowires increases about 12 times under illumination at 365 nm wavelength.