Seminaire Tanisha Bhadauria

Defect Tuning and Nanoscale Electromechanical Characterisation of ZnO Nanowires

Tanisha Bhadauria

PhD 

Laboratoire de Génie des Matériaux et Physique (LMGP)

Centre for Radiofrequencies, Optics and Micro-nanoelectronics in the Alps (CROMA)

Abstract

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs), as one-dimensional piezoelectric semiconductors with high elasticity and large surface-to-volume ratios, enable strong electromechanical coupling in devices. ZnO NWs were grown by hydrothermal chemical bath deposition on spin-coated, textured seed layers and characterized by SEM and XRD. Post-growth treatments (vacuum, oxygen annealing, and oxygen plasma) tuned defect chemistry to enhance performance. Defects were analysed by photoluminescence and XPS, while AFM-based techniques (PFM, KPFM, and s-MIM) probed nanoscale electrical and piezoelectric properties. ZnO NWs were also integrated into test structures for advanced mechanical, electrical, and electromechanical studies, including synchrotron-based measurements.