The influence of Au film thickness and annealing conditions on the VLS-assisted growth of ZnO nanostructures

High temperature evaporation methods, such as the vapor-liquid-solid mechanism, have been exploited for the controlled growth of ZnO nanostructures on various substrates. While Au is the most frequently used catalyst for growing ZnO nanowires, its morphological features on the substrate, which determine the size and shape of the nanostructures grown, have not yet been methodically explored. In the current work, we investigated the details of the thermal dewetting of Au films into nanoparticles on Si substrates. Au films of various thicknesses ranging from 2 to 15 nm were annealed under slow and fast rates at various temperatures and the morphological details of the nanoparticles formed were investigated. The dependence of the mean particle size on the nominal film thickness is in fair agreement with theoretical predictions. The vapor-liquid-solid method was employed to investigate the role of the Au nanoparticles on the growth details of ZnO nanowires. The efficient and high throughput growth of ZnO nanowires, for a given growth time, is realized in cases of thin Au films, i.e. when the thickness is lower than 10 nm. Based on these experimental findings, a two-step mechanism is proposed to account for the growth of ZnO nanorods ending in ultrathin (similar to 30 nm), micron-long tips.