Nano-structured CuO on Silicon Using a Chemical Bath Deposition Process and Sputter Seed Layer

Morphological changes of copper oxide (CuO) nano-structures have been studied in detail for renewable energy and electronic applications. The CuO nano-structures were grown on a silicon substrate via a two-stage process starting with radio frequency sputtering for the seed layer followed by chemical bath deposition. The study was focused on controlling the shape and size of the CuO nano-structures depending on various growth conditions, such as reaction time, growth temperature, and vertical/horizontal orientation of the substrate containing the sputtered-grown seed layer. Structural, optical, crystallographic, and morphological characteristics of the nano-structures were obtained through field-emission scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction crystallographic analysis, and UV–Vis spectroscopy.