Temperature dependence of the resistance of antimony nanowire arrays

Abstract

The resistance of arrays of antimony hollow nanowires in porous anodic aluminum discs with channel diameters of 20 nm, 100 nm and 200 nm is reported. The structure was determined by x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The Sb was deposited in a closed system by a vapour-phase method. The arrays were annealed at temperatures between 100 °C and 200 °C. This post annealing crystallized amorphous regions and decreased the resistivity with an annealing temperature of 150 °C. The resistance of all the arrays increased with decreasing temperature. This temperature dependence is described by an excitation energy which depends on the channel diameter and the temperature of the annealing.