Summary

The invention of the p-n junction in the beginning of the twentieth century was a key turning point, leading to the huge revolution in semiconductor-based electronics technology. Classical semiconductors such as silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), gallium arsenide (GaAs) and related III-V materials were the earliest materials used in the industry of electronics and are characterised by their small to moderate bandgap energies.

However, classical semiconductors cannot be effectively utilised to fulfill the rapidly growing demand for efficient semiconductor-based devices due to their performance limitation induced by their narrow bandgaps. Therefore, shifting towards wide-bandgap semiconductors, for example ZnO,  for efficient light, higher-temperature, high-voltage and high-frequency devices has been supported by intensive research.

In this talk, various physical properties of ZnO will be briefly discussed and then how high quality self-assembled ZnO nanostructures using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique can be produced.