Unconventional nanowire electronics: Macroelectronic and noncrystalline substrate applications

Semiconductor nanowires, high-quality single-crystal materials with diameters on the order of nanometers and lengths on the order of microns, are an ideal system for both basic research in systems with reduced dimensionality and applications such as nanoscale electronic devices. The research in this thesis addresses the application of these materials to devices fabricated on non-conventional substrates such as glass and plastic, with a view towards macroelectronic applications.; The first two projects address the initial development of device fabrication schemes and techniques compatible with non-crystalline substrates. First, a method for performing room temperature nanoimprint lithography on plastic substrates is presented. Second, ambient temperature fabrication techniques enabled the generation of high-performance nanowire devices on glass and plastic substrates. Both basic FET and LED structures are demonstrated; analysis of the transport characteristics reveals performance exceeding that of state-of-the-art amorphous silicon and organic semiconductor based devices.; The next project discusses a general strategy for the parallel and scalable integration of nanowire devices over large areas without the need to register individual nanowire-electrode interconnects. Highly reliable and uniform transistors with scalable properties are enabled through the use of multiple nanowires in a single device.; The final body of work explores the application of these multiple nanowire transistors to integrated applications on non-crystalline substrates. Inverters generated from the on-chip integration of two nanowire transistors are shown to demonstrate AC gain up to MHz frequencies. Extension of this integration allowed for the formation of ring oscillator structures displaying frequencies up to 11 MHz on silicon and glass substrates. Finally, these results are extended to plastic substrates. Through the use of nanowire heterostructures and improvements in device design, AC performance at frequencies up to 200 MHz is realized.