Templating of polycrystalline ZnO with DNA and its performance in field-effect transistors

Field effect transistors (FET) with bottom gate/bottom contact arrangement are constructed using composites of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and nanoparticulate zinc oxide as semiconductor. Polycrystalline ZnO, is tethered onto double stranded DNA by means of a chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique at about 60 degrees C. In the FET device the DNA/ZnO composite wires bridge the source and drain geometry in a stochastic arrangement. The carrier charge mobility was extracted as 5.52 x 10(-5) cm(2)/V s; I-on/off similar to 52.500 as well as V-th -9.07 V. The device performance was obtained from as deposited material without further annealing. The presence of the DNA structure directing template seems to be beneficial for the FET performance. [GRAPHICS] . (C) 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim