Chemical Bath Deposition of ZnO Nanowires Using Copper Nitrate as an Additive for Compensating Doping.

The controlled incorporation of dopants like copper into ZnO nanowires (NWs) grown by chemical bath deposition (CBD) is still challenging despite its critical importance for the development of piezoelectric devices. In this context, the effects of the addition of copper nitrate during the CBD of ZnO NWs grown on Au seed layers are investigated in detail, where zinc nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine are used as standard chemical precursors and ammonia as an additive to tune the pH. By combining thermodynamic simulations with chemical and structural analyses, we show that copper oxide nanocrystals simultaneously form with ZnO NWs during the CBD process in the low-pH region associated with large supersaturation of Cu species. The Cu(II) and Zn(II) speciation diagrams reveal that both species show very similar behaviors, as they predominantly form either X2+ ions (with X = Cu or Zn) or X(NH3)42+ ion complexes, depending on the pH value. Owing to their similar ionic structures, Cu2+ and Cu(NH3)42+ ions preferentially formed in the low- and high-pH regions, respectively, are able to compete with the corresponding Zn2+ and Zn(NH3)42+ ions to adsorb on the c-plane top facets of ZnO NWs despite repulsive electrostatic interactions, yielding the significant incorporation of Cu. At the highest pH value, additional attractive electrostatic interactions between the Cu(NH3)42+ ion complexes and negatively charged c-plane top facets further enhance the incorporation of Cu into ZnO NWs. The present findings provide a deep insight into the physicochemical processes at work during the CBD of ZnO NWs following the addition of copper nitrate, as well as a detailed analysis of the incorporation mechanisms of Cu into ZnO NWs, which are considered beyond the only electrostatic forces usually driving the incorporation of dopants such as Al and Ga.

Improvement of AlN Film Quality Using Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition with Substrate Biasing.

In recent years, plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) has emerged as a key method for the growth of conformal and homogeneous aluminum nitride (AlN) films at the nanoscale. In this work, the utilized PEALD reactor was equipped not only with a traditional remote Inductively Coupled Plasma source but also with an innovative additional power supply connected to the substrate holder. Thus, we investigate here the substrate biasing effect on AlN film quality deposited on (100) silicon. We report that by adjusting the ion energy via substrate biasing, the AlN film quality can be significantly improved. Indeed, compared to films commonly deposited without bias, AlN deposited with a platen power of 5 W displays a 14% increase in the number of N-Al bonds according to X-ray spectroscopy analysis. Moreover, after having integrated them into Metal-AlN-Si capacitors, the 5 W AlN film exhibits a permittivity increase from 4.5 to 7.0 along with a drastic drop of leakage current density of more than 5 orders of magnitude. The use of substrate biasing during PEALD is thereby a promising strategy for the improvement of AlN film quality.

Formation mechanisms of ZnO nanowires on polycrystalline Au seed layers for piezoelectric applications.

ZnO nanowires are considered as attractive building blocks for piezoelectric devices, including nano-generators and stress/strain sensors. However, their integration requires the use of metallic seed layers, on top of which the formation mechanisms of ZnO nanowires by chemical bath deposition are still largely open. In order to tackle that issue, the nucleation and growth mechanisms of ZnO nanowires on top of Au seed layers with a thickness in the range of 5-100 nm are thoroughly investigated. We show that the ZnO nanowires present two different populations of nano-objects with a given morphology. The majority primary population is made of vertically aligned ZnO nanowires, which are heteroepitaxially formed on top of the Au (111) grains. The resulting epitaxial strain is found to be completely relieved at the Au/ZnO interface. In contrast, the minority secondary population is composed of ZnO nanowires with a significant mean tilt angle around 20° with respect to the normal to the substrate surface, which are presumably formed on the (211) facets of the Au (111) grains. The elongation of ZnO nanowires is further found to be limited by the surface reaction at the c-plane top facet in the investigated conditions. By implementing the selective area growth using electron beam lithography, the position of ZnO nanowires is controlled, but the two populations still co-exist in the ensemble. These findings provide an in-depth understanding of the formation mechanisms of ZnO nanowires on metallic seed layers, which should be taken into account for their more efficient integration into piezoelectric devices.