| Non-lithographic, bottom-up techniques have been developed to advance the state of the art and contribute to the development of new material structures, fabrication methods, devices, and applications using the Zinc Oxide material system as a demonstration vehicle. The novel low temperature catalytic vapour-liquid-solid growth process developed is technologically simple, inexpensive, and a robust fabrication technique offering complete control over the physical dimensions of the nanorod such as its diameter and length, and over the positioning of the nanorods for site-selective growth. By controlling the distribution of the Au catalysts with the use of a self-organized anodized aluminum oxide nanopore membrane as a template, we have been able to synthesize highly ordered, hexagonally packed, array of ZnO nanorods spanning a large area. These nanorods are single crystal, hexagonally shaped, indicative of the wurtzite structure, and are vertically aligned to the substrate. By pre-patterning the template, arbitrary nanorod patterns can be formed. We have also demonstrated the assembly of the nanorods into functional devices using controlled methods that are less resource intensive, easily scalable, and adaptable to other material systems, without resorting to the manipulation of each individual nanostructures. Examples of these devices include the random network device that exploits the common attributes of the nanorods, and those formed using an external field to control the nanorod orientation. Two and three terminal device measurements show that the as-grown nanorods are n-type doped, and that by controlling the external optical excitation and its test environment, the photoconductivity can be altered dramatically. Self assemble techniques such as the spontaneous formation of nanodendrites into complex networks of interconnects were studied. Controlled formation of interconnects achieved by controlling the placement of the catalyst is demonstrated by growing the nanorods on existing ZnO nanorods and on carbon nanotubes creating heterojunctions. Arbitrary controlled heterojunction 3-D networks are envisioned providing increased device functionalities. The nanorods were also integrated with existing devices such as the atomic force microscope tips. Finally, we have developed a base technology for lateral current injection devices often seen as a paradigm shift for optoelectronic devices. |
