Effect of annealing parameters and activation top layer on the growth of copper oxide nanowires

Abstract The present work focuses on the study of annealing parameters and activation top layer on the growth of copper oxide nanowires. The copper films of varying thickness (60-800 nm) were synthesized on SiO2/Si substrate by DC magnetron sputtering and the samples annealed in terms of different parameters, especially the optimized annealing temperatures from 300-700 oC for 2-8 hrs to understand the growth mechanism and to optimize parameters for the nanowire formation. Furthermore, a thin conductive gold film as an activation top layer enhances the density and aspect ratio of the copper oxide nanowires. The orientation of crystal planes was characterized by XRD and the nanowires growth after annealing was characterized by SEM. The changes in the film were analyzed by the Raman spectroscopy.