Electronic transport studies and photo-detecting properties of indium oxide nanowires

Single crystalline In/sub 2/O/sub 3/ nanowires were synthesized and then utilized to construct field effect transistors (FET) consisting of individual nanowires. These nanowire transistors exhibited nice n-type semiconductor characteristics with well-defined linear and saturation regimes, and on off ratios as high as 10/sup 4/ were observed at room temperature. The temperature-dependence of the conductance revealed thermal emission as the dominating transport mechanism. Furthermore, photo-conducting properties of In/sub 2/O/sub 3/ nanowires were also studied. These nanowire transistors showed substantial increase in conductance and also significant shifts in the gate threshold voltage upon exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light.