High-pressure Pulsed Laser Deposition and Structural Characterization of Zinc Oxide Nanowires

Various zinc oxide nanostructures have been grown by high-pressure PLD on gold coated sapphire substrates. Depending on growth parameters, a wide range of geometries is obtained in a controlled fashion. The whisker diameter depends on the target-to-substrate distance. The well aligned epitaxial growth of the nanowires on sapphire without rotational domains is proved by x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Our growth mechanism seems to be different from the usually assumed vapor-liquid-solid process, because of the absence of any gold drops on top of the nanowires.