Aligned nanowire structures on silicon and flexible substrates and their applications

This paper reports on device fabrication and applications using vertically aligned nanowires (VANW) grown on silicon and flexible polyimide substrates. For bio hazards sensing applications, a tin oxide thin film was coated on the surface of nanowires to utilize high surface area density of nanostructured platform. Device fabrication processes include current silicon technology including lithography, plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), and sol-gel process. The crystalline structure and sensing characteristics of tin oxide after annealing process were investigated with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and resistance monitoring at different concentration of isopropyl alcohol at part per million (ppm) levels. In addition, gold nanowires grown on flexible polyimide substrates were demonstrated, which can be used for a wide variety of applications including biomedical, display, and communication devices based on flexibility and transparency.