Temperature dependence of the resistance of antimony nanowire arrays

The resistance of arrays of antimony hollow nanowires in porous anodic aluminum discs with channel diameters of 20 nm, 100 mn and 200 mn 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 degreesC and 200 degreesC. This post annealing crystallized amorphous regions and decreased the resistivity with an annealing temperature of 150 degreesC. 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.