Development of Ohmic nanocontacts via surface modification for nanowire-based electronic and optoelectronic devices: ZnO nanowires as an exampleElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: See DOI: 10.1039/c2nr30688c

We demonstrated a nanocontacting scheme using a focus ion beam (FIB) system without further heat treatment for ZnO nanowires. This scheme includes Ga ion surface modification and direct-write Pt deposition induced by Ga ion, leading to an Ohmic nanocontact with a specific contact resistance as low as 2.5 × 10 −6 Ω cm 2 . Temperature-dependent measurements show that the transport of the FIB-Pt contact on the ZnO nanowire with local surface modification is governed by field emission tunneling. Taking advantage of area-selected and room-temperature processes, Ga ion surface modification and direct-write Pt deposition using a FIB system demonstrates a feasible Ohmic scheme. We demonstrated the a novel nanocontacting scheme of an Ohmic metallization without further heat treatment using a focus ion beam (FIB) system.