Semiconductors are materials with a

Semiconductors are materials with applications in the electronic industry, on which a large variety of the actual technological devices are based. Especially, zinc oxide (ZnO) is an n-type semiconductor with the bandgap around 3.37 eV at 300K and it is not only extensively used for electronic systems but also in other fields such as gas sensors, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, varistors and bactericidal applications. As ceramic, ZnO is a remarkable material, although a large number of drawbacks can be involved in its structural and functional properties due to the exaggerated grain growth at high sintering temperatures (>1000℃) required to densify ZnO ceramics. A possibility to overcome these inconveniencesis employing non-conventional sintering methodologies, which are designed to obtain both small grain sizes and high densification at the same time, as for example by the cold sintering process, CSP. CSP was developed by C.A. Randall’s group in 2017 in which at least one inorganic compound in particle form is mixed with a solvent that partially solubilizes it to promote the mass transport of powders when applying a uniaxial pressure at low temperatures (