Low-temperature growth of ZnO nanorods in anodic aluminum oxide on Si substrate by atomic layer deposition

Low-temperature growth of self-organized ZnO nanorods on Si substrate is achieved using anodic aluminum oxide and atomic layer deposition at 250 degrees C without catalyst or seed layer. Photoluminescence spectrum indicates that the ZnO nanorod arrays exhibit a blue/green luminescence at 480 nm. In addition, the nanorod arrays demonstrate excellent field-emission properties with a turn-on electric field of 6.5 V mu m(-1) and a threshold electric field of 9.8 V mu m(-1), which are attributed to the perfectly perpendicular alignment of ZnO nanorods to the Si substrate. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.