Arrangement of self-assembled ZnO-NiO nanostructures using topographical templates towards oxide directed self-assembly

Self-assembled oxide composite nanostructures offer novel functionalities and three-dimensional architectures, such as vertical pillars and matrix structures. One of the challenges in this field is to precisely control the positional arrangement of oxide pillars embedded in a matrix. Here, we report on an early proof-of-concept demonstration for positioning and arranging self-assembled NiO pillars in a ZnO matrix. SrTiO3 templates with artificial line groove patterns were fabricated by nanoimprint lithography (NIL). High-density NiO pillars were observed on both sides of the template line edges as well as a single array of NiO pillars in the middle of each line groove for a 90 nm line width. This simple technique provides a path towards the development of nanoscale design and applications for memory devices.