Fabrication and characterization of Au/ZnO nano-schottky contacts

Abstract

We report on electrical characteristics of Shottky nano-contacts on ZnO thin film. High quality nanocrystalline ZnO thin films were grown on glass substrates for the formation of nano-Schottky contacts with nano-size probes. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement confirmed that the grown ZnO thin film is of single crystalline nature with hexagonal structure. The current-voltage characteristics measured individual nanoneedle contact by an Au-coated atomic force microscope tip reflected Schottky-type behavior. The reverse-bias breakdown voltages were estimated to be -10 V. The charactertics of ZnO-Au nano Schottky contacts were compared and contrasted with these reported by other for large-area Schottky contacts. The l-V charactertics Schottky nano-contacts were found to be significantly different from large area Schottky contacts on ZnO thin films reported by others. Copyright © 2010 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.