Room-temperature, texture-controlled growth of ZnO thin films and their application for growing aligned ZnO nanowire arrays

Texture-controlled growth of ZnO films on substrates of general materials at room temperature by pulsed laser deposition was demonstrated. The texture of the film changed progressively from (001) to (110) to (100) as the laser fluence increased from 2 J cm^-2 up to 45 J cm^-2. Application of the textured films on Si wafers as seed layers for growing aligned ZnO nanowire arrays (grown along the c-axis) with controlled orientation relative to the substrate surface was demonstrated. The individual nanowire forms an epitaxial orientation relationship with the orientation of the grain that nucleated it; therefore the long axis of the nanowire aligns in conformity with the texture of the seed layer.