ZnO Tetrapods Designed as Multiterminal Sensors to Distinguish False Responses and Increase Sensitivity

Individual zinc oxide tetrapods were designed as multiterminal sensors by the e-beam lithography method. Different from double-terminal sensors, these sensors can give multiple responses to a single signal at the same time. The designed tetrapod devices were employed to detect light with different wavelength. The results indicate that they are remarkable optoelectronic devices, sensitive to ultraviolet light, and have advantages on distinguishing noises and increasing sensitivity. This should be helpful for weak signal measurements of nanodevices. In recent decades, sensors based on nanostructures have attracted great attention.1-4 Compared to traditional sensors, these nanosensors exhibit obvious advantages. Generally, they are of comparable size to the detected biological or chemical targets. The detected targets can apply remarkable changes to the state of nanostructures,5 and nanostructures are of high specific surface area. As we all know, the surface plays an important role in sensors. Therefore, the nanosensors often have excellent sensitivities. Moreover, they also show advantages on miniaturization, low cost, and low energ