Terahertz characterization of zinc oxide nanowires using parallel-plate waveguides

We present a new material parameter extraction method utilizing parallel-plate waveguides (PPWG) with terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). It can be applied to natively grown samples as thin as a micron, it is repeatable and accurate, and it enables the characterization of thin films and nanostructures on conductive substrates for a variety of materials and growth conditions. The dielectric response and the complex conductivity are measured and fit with theoretic models for chemical-bath deposited zinc oxide nanowires.