4.6 Article

Mechanical/Electrical Characterization of ZnO Nanomaterial Based on AFM/Nanomanipulator Embedded in SEM

Journal

MICROMACHINES
Volume 12, Issue 3, Pages -

Publisher

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/mi12030248

Keywords

nanomanipulator; atomic force microscope; ZnO; mechanical; electrical characterization; piezoelectric property

Funding

  1. National Natural Science Foundation of China [51205245, 61573236]
  2. Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry
  3. Shanghai Science and Technology Committee of China [14JC1491500]

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In this study, ZnO nanomaterials were characterized using atomic force microscope (AFM) and nanomanipulator embedded in scanning electron microscope (SEM), observing surface morphology, mechanical properties, and electrical characteristics. A two-probe strategy for piezoelectric property measurement was proposed. Experimental results provide insights into ZnO manipulation and characterization criteria.
ZnO nanomaterials have been widely used in micro/nano devices and structure due to special mechanical/electrical properties, and its characterization is still deficient and challenging. In this paper, ZnO nanomaterials, including nanorod and nanowire are characterized by atomic force microscope (AFM) and nanomanipulator embedded in scanning electron microscope (SEM) respectively, which can manipulate and observe simultaneously, and is efficient and cost effective. Surface morphology and mechanical properties were observed by AFM. Results showed that the average Young's modulus of ZnO nanorods is 1.40 MPa and the average spring rate is 0.08 N/m. Electrical properties were characterized with nanomanipulator, which showed that the ZnO nanomaterial have cut-off characteristics and good schottky contact with the tungsten probes. A two-probe strategy was proposed for piezoelectric property measurement, which is easy to operate and adaptable to multiple nanomaterials. Experiments showed maximum voltage of a single ZnO nanowire is around 0.74 mV. Experiment criteria for ZnO manipulation and characterization were also studied, such as acceleration voltage, operation duration, sample preparation. Our work provides useful references for nanomaterial characterization and also theoretical basis for nanomaterials application.

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