Contact barriers in a single ZnO nanowire device

The contact potential between a single ZnO nanowire and Ti/Au contacts was estimated to be ∼30 meV by considering the Arrhenious plot of the two-probe resistance, the thermionic emission conduction, and the Fowler–Nordheim tunneling model. The net voltages applied to the contacts were calculated by subtracting the four-probe voltages from the two-probe voltages at the same currents. The activation energy of the four-probe resistance was about 2.4 mV which was 1/11th of that of the two-probe resistance. The Fowler–Nordheim plot clearly showed the crossover of the conduction mechanism from thermionic emission to tunneling regime as lowering the temperatures below T<100 K.