Individual SnO2 nanowire transistors fabricated by the gold microwire mask method.

A gold microwire mask method is developed for the fabrication of transistors based on single lightly Sb-doped SnO(2) nanowires. Damage of the nanowire's surface can be avoided without any thermal annealing and surface modification, which is very convenient for the fundamental electrical and photoelectric characterization of one-dimensional inorganic nanomaterials. Transport measurements of the individual SnO(2) nanowire devices demonstrate the high-performance n-type field effect transistor characteristics without significant hysteresis in the transfer curves. The current on/off ratio and the subthreshold swing of the nanowire transistors are found to be 10(6) and 240 mV/decade, respectively.