Novel unconventional inorganic nanowires: fabrication, structural analysis and electrical property evaluation

The authors' endeavors in recent years to synthesize novel inorganic semiconducting nanowires, to analyze their atomic structures using state-of-the-art electron microscopy facilities and techniques, and to evaluate electrical properties are highlighted. Along with a general survey of nanostructures prepared and thoroughly characterized in the laboratory, particular emphasis is placed on analysis of non-standard nanowires in the Si-ZnS and B-C-N inorganic systems. Si-ZnS biaxial nanowire heterojunctions are found to be n-type semiconductors, due primarily to a lower resistance Si-path. Fractal-like B-C-N nanofibers display high-resistivity I-V curves arising from enrichment of the nanostructure periphery by the insulating BN-rich phase, as revealed by spatially-resolved chemical mapping during energy-filtering electron microscopy.