STM and STS characterization of ZnO nanorods

• Published in: Optical materials Vol. 27; no. 7; pp. 1276 - 1280
• Main Authors: Herrera-Zaldı́var, M., Valenzuela-Benavides, J., Pal, U.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.04.2005; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Electronic properties; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Morphology; Nanostructures; Optical materials; Optics; Other nonlinear optical materials; photorefractive and semiconductor materials; Physics; Scanning tunneling microscopy; Zinc oxide; Scanning tunneling microscopy; Zinc oxide; Electronic properties; Nanostructures; Morphology; Hydrothermal growth; Zinc oxides; Vacancies; II-VI semiconductors; Strains; Morphology: Electronic properties; Binary compounds; Optical materials
• ISSN: 0925-3467; 1873-1252
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optmat.2004.11.024

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) techniques were used for the morphological and electronic characterization of zinc oxide nanorods. Well crystalline ZnO nanorods of about 200nm mean diameter and up to 5.0μm in length were synthesized by a modified hydrothermal technique at low temperature, using ethylenediamine as a soft surfactant. By means of STM we could detect the formation of prismatic hexagonal and non-prismatic rounded shape ZnO nanorods. Formation of aligned grain structures induced by strain relaxation in the nanorods were also observed. Using STS we could determine the band gap and deep level states related with the formation of oxygen vacancies in the nanostructures by a strain relaxation process.