Horizontally aligned ZnO nanowire transistors using patterned graphene thin films

Here we report the directed growth of ZnO nanowires on multilayer graphene films (MGFs) without the use of metal seed materials. The ZnO source substance was diffused onto the MGF surface, where nanowires tended to grow in the high surface energy sites. This property was exploited to fabricate top-gate structural nanowire transistors with ZnO nanowires grown in the direction of the exposed sides of 6 x 4 mu m patterned MGFs with a SiO2 capping layer. The devices showed an on-current of 160 nA, a threshold voltage of -2.27 V, an on-off current ratio of 3.98 x 10(5), and a field effect mobility of similar to 41.32 cm(2)/V.s. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3684614]