Electrical and structural properties of ZnO synthesized via infiltration of lithographically defined polymer templates

We investigate the electrical and structural properties of infiltration-synthesized ZnO. In-plane ZnO nanowire arrays with prescribed positional registrations are generated by infiltrating diethlyzinc and water vapor into lithographically defined SU-8 polymer templates and removing organic matrix by oxygen plasma ashing. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that homogeneously amorphous as-infiltrated polymer templates transform into highly nanocrystalline ZnO upon removal of organic matrix. Field-effect transistor device measurements show that the synthesized ZnO after thermal annealing displays a typical n-type behavior, ∼10¹⁹cm⁻³ carrier density, and ∼0.1 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ electron mobility, reflecting highly nanocrystalline internal structure. The results demonstrate the potential application of infiltration synthesis in fabricating metal oxide electronic devices