Fully transparent indium (In)-doped ZnO nanowire field-effect transistors were prepared on a patterned SiO2/indium tin oxide (ITO)/SiO2/ITO/glass substrate by reactive evaporation. A crabwise In-doped ZnO nanowire is adopted in photodetectors, with a photocurrent to dark current contrast ratio of only 24.1. Crabwise In-doped ZnO nanowire field-effect transistors performed excellently with a mobility of 85.2 cm(2) V-1 s(-1). The ability to tune n-type conduction and the understanding of the transport properties of crabwise In-doped ZnO nanowires together represents an important step toward the development of ZnO nanowire-based electronic and photoelectronic devices. (C) 2010 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/1.3517078] All rights reserved.