Pulsed-laser treatment for lowering resistance and enhancing field emission of solution-grown ZnO nanowires

One dimensional ZnO nanostructures prepared by low temperature solution-phase methods have been investigated for a number of potential applications. In these applications, they take an important function as charge transport path in the devices. Thus, the electrical conductivity, carrier mobility and ZnO-substrate junction are crucial for device performance. One comment way for this purpose is to dope ZnO NWs in synthesis process. However, it is found that doping can be difficult in aqueous systems. It is because the dopant species can easily form aquo ions and not be incorporated into the crystal lattice. Although alternative methods such as post-thermal-annealing can be employed, such a high temperature process is not compatible for most of the devices fabrication procedure. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new techniques for this purpose. Here, the authors report the investigation of effects of pulsed-laser treatment on the conductivity and field emission of ZnO NWs.