Newton, Marcus Christian;
(2007)
Zinc oxide tetrapod nanocrystal diodes.
Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Advances in fabrication and analysis tools have allowed the synthesis and manipulation of functional materials with features comparable to fundamental physical length scales. Many interesting properties inherently due to quantum size effects have been observed in nanometre scale structures. It is hoped that these nanoscale structures will play a key role in future materials and devices that exploit their unique properties. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a wide band-gap transparent and piezoelectric semiconductor material. It also has a large exciton binding energy which allows for stable ultraviolet light emission at room temperature. There are therefore foreseeable applications in optoelectronic devices which include ultraviolet photosensitive devices and light emitting diodes. Nanoscale structures formed from ZnO are interesting as they possess many of the properties inherent form the bulk but are also subject to various quantum size effects that may occur at the nanoscale. To date, the study of ZnO nanostructures is a relatively recent endeavour with the vast majority of reports being made within the last five years. ZnO is unique in that it forms a family of nanoscale structures. These structures include nanoscale wires, rods, hexagons, tetrapods, ribbons, rings, flowers and helixes. This work is focussed on the study of zinc oxide tetrapod crystalline nanoscale structures and their devices. We have synthesised ZnO tetrapods using chemical vapour transport techniques. Photoluminescence characterisation revealed the presence of optically active surface defects that could be quenched with a simple surface treatment. We have also for the first time observed resonant cavity modes in a single ZnO tetrapod nanocrystal. An ultraviolet sensitive Schottky diode was fabricated from a single ZnO tetrapod using focussed ion-beam assisted deposition techniques. The device characteristics observed were modelled and successfully shown to result from an illumination induced reduction in the Schottky barrier height at the metal-semiconductor interface.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Title: | Zinc oxide tetrapod nanocrystal diodes |
| Identifier: | PQ ETD:594512 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Thesis digitised by ProQuest. Third party copyright material has been removed from the ethesis. Images identifying individuals have been redacted or partially redacted to protect their identity. |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Electronic and Electrical Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1446460 |
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