Growth of Ga-doped ZnO nanowires by two-step vapor phase method

A two-step route is presented to dope Ga into ZnO nanowires and also fabricate heterostructures of Ga-doped ZnO nanowires on ZnO. The content of Ga in ZnO nanowires is about 7 at. % from energy-dispersive x-ray analysis. The single crystal Ga doped ZnO nanowires with the diameter of 40 nm and the length of 300-500 nm are well aligned on the ZnO bulk. The growth direction is along [001]. Raman scattering analysis shows that the doping of Ga into ZnO nanowires depresses Raman E-1L mode of ZnO, manifesting that Ga sites in ZnO are Zn sites (Ga-Zn). The formation mechanism of Zn1-xGaxO nanowires/ZnO heterostructures is proposed. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.