Materials World Network: The Ideal Nanowire Transistor-Materials Development for Contact-Doped ZnO nanowires

半导体纳米线将晶体材料的电子性质与分散在溶剂中的可能性结合在一起。因此，半导体纳米线可以用作灵活和集成的电子设备的构建块，这些设备可以使用印刷技术以低成本制造。氧化锌纳米线特别有趣，因为它们自然形成一维纳米结构，并在低温下在溶液中生长，同时保持良好的电子性能(迁移率~40cm2/V.s)。然而，由于纳米线的纳米性质，在电子设备中使用纳米线仍然存在几个障碍。也就是说，接触掺杂目前限制了氧化锌纳米线场效应晶体管(FET)的性能。通过独家使用光刻等传统技术与外部世界联系也是一项挑战。斯坦福大学和马克斯·普朗克固态物理研究所之间的合作通过协同结合专业知识来解决这两个问题。斯坦福大学的团队将在溶液中生长氧化锌纳米线，并沿纳米线的长度进行调制掺杂，形成n-i-n结构。因此，纳米线将具有自对准的接触。纳米线的本征部分的长度最终决定了纳米线在FET中使用时的开关速度，它将简单地由生长时间控制，从而允许轻松地合成具有长接触的短沟道FET，从而易于与外部世界接口。马克斯·普朗克研究所的团队将利用其在器件制造方面的专业知识，包括开发适合于短沟道FET制造的独特的超薄分子介质，以测试材料并最终构建简单的基于纳米线的电路。基于纳米线的电子学是一项非常有前途的技术。该项目将帮助学生在一个新兴领域的科学和工程方面进行教育，从而立即产生社会效益。参与该项目的学生还将受益于在国际环境中进行研究。他们将被送往德国，在那里他们将学习最先进的设备制造技能。相反，在马克斯·普朗克研究所参与这项研究的学生将在斯坦福大学学习如何使用先进的表征技术。因此，这个项目将培养出非常全面的个人，在从基础材料科学到电子设备物理的广泛学科中拥有实践经验。此外，该项目将教育将在夏季访问斯坦福大学的教师，并将接受远程电子显微镜能力的培训，他们将能够通过成像纳米线和低于10纳米分辨率的纳米线设备来移植到他们的课堂上。

Semiconductor nanowires conjugate the electronic quality of crystalline materials with the possibility of being dispersed in a solvent. Hence, semiconductor nanowires can be used as building blocks for flexible and integrated electronic devices that can be made at low cost using printing technologies. ZnO nanowires are particularly interesting as they naturally form 1D nanostructures and grow in solution at low temperature while maintaining good electronic properties (mobility ~40 cm2/V.s). Nevertheless, there are still several obstacles to the utilization of nanowires in electronic devices that are due to their nanoscopic nature. Namely, contact doping currently limits the performance of ZnO nanowire field-effect transistors (FETs). Making contact to the outside world by making exclusive use of conventional technologies such as photolithography represents a challenge as well. This collaboration between Stanford University and the Max Planck Institute for Solid-State Physics tackles both these problems by synergistically combining expertises. The Stanford team will grow ZnO nanowires in solution with modulated doping along the nanowire length forming n-i-n structures. As a result, the nanowires will have self-alingned contacts. The length of the intrinsic part of the nanowire, which ultimately determines the switching speed of the nanowire when used in a FET, will be simply controlled by the growth time thus allowing facile synthesis of short-channel FETs with long contacts for easy interfacing to the outside world. The Max Planck Institute team will leverage its expertise in device fabrication, including the development of a unique ultra-thin molecular dielectric suitable for short-channel FET fabrication, in order to test materials and eventually build simple nanowire-based circuits.Nanowire-based electronics is a very promising technology. This project will help educate students in the science and engineering of an emerging field thus providing immediate societal benefits. The students participating in the project will also benefit from doing research in an international setting. They will be sent to Germany where they will learn the skills of state-of-the-art device fabrication. Conversely, students involved in the research at the Max-Planck Insitute will learn how to use advanced characterization techniques at Stanford. Thus this project will produce extremely well-rounded individuals, with hands-on experience in a broad range of disciplines, from fundamental Materials Science to the physics of electronic devices. Furthermore the project will educate teachers who will visit Stanford during the summer and will be trained on the use of remote electron microscopy capabilities that they will be able to port to their classes by imaging nanowires and nanowire devices with sub-10 nm resolution.