Growth of Zinc Oxide nanowire on Ni/Cu–Zn/SiO2/Si substrate

In this work a novel method for the growth of Zinc Oxide nanowire was provided. The ZnO nanowires were grown on Ni/Cu–Zn/SiO2/Si substrate in H2O/ O2/CH4 atmosphere. The substrate was prepared by the following steps. The Si chip was first grown a SiO2 layer on its surface in air at 1000 °C for 15 min in a general furnace. On this SiO2 layer a layer of Cu–Zn alloy with about 30 wt.% Zn and a Ni layer were then successively coated using sputtering deposition technique. The Cu–Zn alloy layer was used as the source of Zn and the Ni layer acted as a promoter for the growth of ZnO nanowires. The ZnO nanowire was characterized by a scanning electron microscope for morphology, a transmission electron microscope for microstructure and phase structure. A mechanism for the ZnO nanowire growth on Ni/Cu–Zn/SiO2/Si substrate was also proposed.