Zinc oxide (ZnO), with its excellent luminescent properties and the ease of growth of its nanostructures, holds promise for the development of photonic devices. The recent advances in growth of ZnO nanorods are discussed. Results from both low temperature and high temperature growth approaches are presented. The techniques which are presented include metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD), vapour phase epitaxy (VPE), pulse laser deposition (PLD), vapour-liquid-solid (VLS), aqueous chemical growth (ACG) and finally the electrodeposition technique as an example of a selective growth approach. Results from structural as well as optical properties of a variety of ZnO nanorods are shown and analysed using different techniques, including high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL), for both room temperature and for low temperature performance. These results indicate that the grown ZnO nanorods possess reproducible and interesting optical properties. Results on obtaining p-type doping in ZnO micro- and nanorods are also demonstrated using PLD. Three independent indications were found for p-type conducting, phosphorus-doped ZnO nanorods: first, acceptor-related CL peaks, second, opposite transfer characteristics of back-gate field effect transistors using undoped and phosphorus doped wire channels, and finally, rectifying I-V characteristics of ZnO:P nanowire/ZnO:Ga p-n junctions. Then light emitting diodes (LEDs) based on n-ZnO nanorods combined with different technologies (hybrid technologies) are suggested and the recent electrical, as well as electro-optical, characteristics of these LEDs are shown and discussed. The hybrid LEDs reviewed and discussed here are mainly presented for two groups: those based on n-ZnO nanorods and p-type crystalline substrates, and those based on n-ZnO nanorods and p-type amorphous substrates. Promising electroluminescence characteristics aimed at the development of white LEDs are demonstrated. Although some of the presented LEDs show visible emission for applied biases in excess of 10 V, optimized structures are expected to provide the same emission at much lower voltage. Finally, lasing from ZnO nanorods is briefly reviewed. An example of a recent whispering gallery mode (WGM) lasing from ZnO is demonstrated as a way to enhance the stimulated emission from small size structures.

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Polarity dependence (N‐polar (000‐1) and Ga‐polar (0001)) of surface photovoltage of epitaxially grown, vertically aligned GaN nanorods has been investigated by photo‐assisted Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM). Commercial GaN substrates with known polarities are taken as reference samples. The polarity of GaN substrates can be well distinguished by the change in surface photovoltage upon UV illumination in air ambient. These different behaviors of Ga‐ and N‐polar surfaces are attributed to the polarity‐related surface‐bound charges and photochemical reactivity. GaN nanorods were grown on patterned SiO2/sapphire templates by metal‐organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). In order to analyze the bottom surface of the grown GaN nanorods, a technique known from high power electronics and joining techniques is applied to remove the substrate. The top and bottom surfaces of the GaN nanorods are identified to be N‐polar and Ga‐polar according to the KPFM results, respectively. Our experiments demonstrate that KPFM is a simple and suitable method capable to identify the polarity of GaN nanorods. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

ZnO thin films, ZnMgO/ZnO heterostructures and ZnO nanostructures were fabricated using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), vapour phase transport (VPT) and an aqueous chemical growth approach (ACG). The possibility to employ several fabrication techniques is of special importance for the realization of unique device structures. MBE was implemented for ZnO-based layer and heterostructure growth. Pronounced RHEED oscillations were used for growth control and optimisation, resulting in high quality ZnO and Zn 1-x Mg x O epilayers and heterostructures, as well as ZnMgO/ZnO quantum wells on sapphire and SiC substrates. A novel advanced VPT approach is developed and sapphire, SiC, ZnO epitaxial layers, and even plastic and glass were implemented as substrates for ZnO growth. The VPT fabrication of ZnO nanopillars, leading to well aligned, c-axis oriented nanopillars with excellent quality and purity is demonstrated. Successful steps were made towards device fabrication on ZnO basis. The nanopillar fabrication technique is combined with MBE technology: MBE-grown ZnMgO/ZnO quantum well structures were grown on ZnO nanopillars presenting significant progress towards nano-LEDs realization.

In this contribution, we compare the photoluminescence properties of ZnO nanorods and epilayers with those of bulk ZnO. Owing to the high aspect ratio (length of 4–14μm, diameter of 80–500nm), the characterized ZnO nanorods show very good optical properties. Due to the high surface-to-volume ratio in ZnO nanorods, surface excitons dominate at low temperature. The optical properties of nanorod ensembles improve with increasing nanorod length. The photoluminescence emission from free A excitons was intense in the ZnO layer at 13K.