Wafer-scale, well-aligned growth of ZnO nanowires via chemical bath deposition: Assessment of Zinc ions contribution and other limiting factors

ZnO is a multifunctional nanomaterial having various applications. The real challenge is to produce large scale, well-aligned, reproducible ZnO nanowires (NWs) using low-cost techniques. The aim of this work is to show a simple approach for the uniform growth of NWs, on entire silicon wafers, using a low-temperature chemical method. A study of the substrate size dependent growth of NWs was conducted to understand the limitations in the growth. A time dependent growth study was performed on ZnO NWs grown on 3-inch wafers to track their morphological evolution. Simultaneous growth of ZnO NWs on two 4-inch wafers will be demonstrated.