Nanowire field-effect transistors

One-dimensional (1-D) semiconductor nanostructures have attract great attention in recent years due to their special structures and potential applications in many areas, such as electronics, optoelectronics, sensors, mechanics, etc. Configuring 1-D semiconductor nanostructures as nanoscale field-effect transistors has opened a new and exciting research area named nanowire electronics. In this chapter, we review variety of nanowire building blocks that have been available to researchers till now and discuss a range of nanoscale devices that could find exciting applications in the future. In the first part, we give a brief introduction to nanowire electronics, and then discuss the typical forms of 1-D nanostructures. In the third part, the application of nanowire FETs as high-performance nanoscale sensors, light-emitting diodes, nanolasers, nanowire solar cells, and transparent electronics will be introduced in detail. The chapter will end up with some perspectives and outlook on the future developments in nanowire field-effect transistors research area.