Electrical analysis of Al/ZnO/p-Si,Al/PMMA/p-Si and Al/PMMA/ZnO/p-Si structures: Comparison study

Al/ZnO/p-Si, Al/PMMA/p-Si and Al/PMMA/ZnO/p-Si structures were fabricated. Based on the measured current–voltage (C–V) and capacitance–voltage curves, the electrical characteristics of these heterostructures such as ideality factor, barrier height and series resistance of each structure were analyzed and then compared with those of Al/PMMA/ZnO/p-Si. According to C–V measurement, it was found that the Al/PMMA/ZnO/p-Si structure indicates the better electronic performance rather than other structures. The obtained results represent low series resistance (19.3 Ω) after coating with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) over ZnO/p-Si heterojunction structure for Al/PMMA/ZnO/p-Si heterostructure.     

Effect of growth temperature on diode parameters of n-ZnO/p-Si heterojuction diodes grown by atomic layer deposition

n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunctions were grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on (100) p-Si substrates at different growth temperatures in the range of ~100–250 °C. The current-voltage characterization of all the heterojunctions showed typical rectifying behavior, a true signature of a p-n junction diode. The diode grown at 100 °C were having significantly lower reverse saturation current (~21 nA) and high rectification factor (~120) compared to those grown at relatively higher temperatures such as 200 or 250 °C. From capacitance-voltage measurements, it was found that the depletion width in the ZnO side of n-ZnO/p-Si diode was maximum (~60 nm) for the diode grown at 100 °C and decreased gradually to ~3 nm for the diodes grown at high temperatures of 250 °C. The electron concentration in ZnO films was found to increase significantly on increasing the growth temperature from ~100 to 250 °C. The junction capacitance also showed an increasing trend with increase in the growth temperature. The variation of diode parameters with growth temperature has been discussed in terms of carrier concentration in ZnO films and associated growth mechanisms of the ALD. Such low temperature grown n-ZnO/p-Si diodes with lower reverse saturation current and large depletion width may be suitable for photo detection applications.     

Characterization of AZO/p-Si heterojunction prepared by DC magnetron sputtering

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) film was deposited by direct-current (DC) magnetron sputtering on p-Si (1 0 0) wafer to fabricate Al-doped n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunctions. The microstructural, optical and electrical properties of the AZO film were characterized by XRD, SEM; UV–vis spectrophotometer; four-point probe and Hall effect measurement, respectively. Results show that the AZO film is of good quality. The electrical junction properties were investigated by I–V measurement, which reveals that the heterojunction shows rectifying behavior under a dark condition. The ideality factor and the saturation current of this diode are 20.1 and 1.19×10⁻⁴ A, respectively. The value of I_F/I_R (I_F and I_R stand for forward and reverse current, respectively) at 5 V is found to be as high as 19.7. It shows fairly good rectifying behavior, indicating formation of a diode between AZO and p-Si. High photocurrent is obtained under a reverse bias when the crystalline quality of AZO film is good enough to transmit light into p-Si.     

The investigation of Al-doped ZnO as an electron transporting layer for visible-blind ultraviolet photodetector based on n-ZnO nanorods/p-Si heterojunction

An n-ZnO nanorods/p-Si heterojunction photodetector with Al-doped ZnO (AZO) as an electron transporting layer was fabricated. The heterojunction with 20 nm AZO film showed a better characteristic than that of the device without AZO, and it displays a rectification ratio of 8470 at ±3 V and a turn-on voltage of 1.8 V. Also, based on spectral responsivity measurement, the device with AZO coating showed higher responsivity and better visible-blind detectivity than those without AZO, and the peak responsivity of the photodetector with AZO was as high as ~0.49 A/W at 354 nm. Furthermore, the photodetector with AZO layer showed a bigger UV–visible responsivity ratio (R_354 nm / R_546 nm) than that of the photodetector without AZO coating at −2 V. The role of AZO layer was illustrated through energy band theory and the electron transport mechanism.     

Defect-Related White-Light Emission from ZnO in an n-Mg0.2Zn0.8O/n-ZnO/SiOx Heterostructure on n-Si

An n-Mg_0.2Zn_0.8O/n-ZnO/SiO _x (x < 2) heterostructure has been fabricated on n-Si by sputtering and electron-beam evaporation. The device showed nonrectifying behavior, and emitted strong white light under reverse bias with positive voltages applied to n-Si. The white-light electroluminescence (EL) is believed to result from electron–hole recombination at defect levels of ZnO. The EL mechanism has been tentatively explained in terms of the energy band structure of the device under forward and reverse bias.     

Electrical Characteristics of <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-ZnO/<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Si Heterojunction Diodes Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition at Different Oxygen Pressures

Heterojunction diodes of n-type ZnO/p-type silicon (100) were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition of ZnO films on p-Si substrates in oxygen ambient at different pressures. These heterojunctions were found to be rectifying with a maximum forward-to-reverse current ratio of about 1,000 in the applied voltage range of −5 V to +5 V. The turn-on voltage of the heterojunctions was found to depend on the ambient oxygen pressure during the growth of the ZnO film. The current density–voltage characteristics and the variation of the series resistance of the n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunctions were found to be in line with the Anderson model and Burstein-Moss (BM) shift.     

Heterojunction performance of dip coated n-Cd0.5Zn0.5S thin films on different metal sulfide substrates

In this work, n-type cadmium zinc sulfide (n-Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S) films were grown by a dip coating technique on different p-type metal sulfide substrates. The morphology, structure, and composition of the yielded materials have been con?rmed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, respectively. Using the absorption measurements, the direct allowed band gap energies for Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S, PbS, CuS, CuInS₂, were found to be 2.93, 1.83, 1.98 and 2.5 eV at room temperature, respectively. The substrate dependence of the current density–voltage (J–V) characteristics of n-Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S/p-PbS, n-Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S/p-CuS, n-Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S/p-Cu_0.8In_1.2S₂, n-Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S/p-Cu_0.9In_1.1S₂, n-Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S/p-CuInS₂, n-Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S/p-Cu_1.1In_0.9S₂ and n-Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S/p-Cu_1.2In_0.8S₂ heterojunctions were measured at room temperature (～300 K). These characteristics showed a rectifying behavior consistent with a potential barrier formed at the interface for all the studied devices. The forward current density–voltage characteristics under low voltage bias were explained on the basis of thermionic emission mechanism. Heterojunction parameters such as ideality factor, n, series resistance, R_S and barrier height, Φ_b were obtained from J–V measurements using Cheung's method. The heterojunctions show non-ideal J–V behavior with an ideality factor greater than unity. Analysis of the experimental data under reverse voltage bias suggests that Schottky effect is the dominant mechanism. The dark capacitance–voltage characteristics of the heterojunctions were studied at 1 MHz. High value of built-in potential of 0.58 V was obtained for n-Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S/p-Cu_0.9In_1.1S₂ heterojunction as compared to the other studied heterojunctions. The photovoltaic characteristics were analyzed for the heterojunctions under illumination of 100 mW/cm².     

Transport and storage properties of CrSi2/Si junctions made using the CAPVD technique

p-CrSi₂/n-crystSi and p-CrSi₂/p-crystSi hetero junctions produced by cathodic arc physical vapor deposition were worked out by means of capacitance–voltage–temperature (C–V–T) and current–voltage–temperature (I–V–T) measurements to investigate storage and transport properties. Former measurement on p-CrSi₂/n-crystSi structure confirmed an abrupt type junction together with a building voltage at the proximity of 0.7 V. Though a fairly well rectification ratio (10³ at ±2 V) was realized by I–V measurement, it became deteriorated with the increase in ambient temperature. From temperature dependence of I–V variations, distinct conduction mechanisms were identified. In forward (reverse) direction trap assisted single-multistep tunneling recombination (generation) and space-charge limited current flow that corresponded to low and high bias voltage regions, respectively, were identified. Moreover, an activation energy (E_A) determined from the slopes of I–V–T curves as 0.22 and 0.26 eV was interpreted as the energy position of a chromium–boron (Cr–B) complex-type point defect residing in n/p doped c-Si semiconductor in CrSi₂/n–c-Si and CrSi₂/p–c-Si junctions. The retrieved E_A was in agreement with the recent DLTS measurement. Based on the experimental observations, schematic current path was built to interpret I–V/C–V behaviors. The model was successful in explaining the decrease in measured capacitance under large forward bias voltage reported for the first time by us for the present CrSi₂/Si junctions.     

Electrical and photoelectric properties of anisotype n-TiN/p-Si heterojunctions

Photosensitive n-TiN/p-Si heterojunctions are fabricated by the reactive magnetron sputtering of a thin titanium-nitride film with n-type conductivity onto polished polycrystalline p-Si wafers. The I–V characteristics of the heterostructures are measured at different temperatures. The temperature dependences of the potential-barrier height and series resistance of the n-TiN/p-Si heterojunction are studied. The dominant mechanisms of current transport through the heterojunction in the cases of forward and reverse bias are established. The heterostructures generate the open-circuit voltage V _oc = 0.4 V and the short-circuit current I _sc = 1.36 mA/cm² under illumination with a power density of 80 mW/cm².     

Electronic structure of highly crystalline polyaniline by study of tunneling conduction in n+-Si/self-assembled monolayer/polyaniline heterostructures

Highly crystalline polyaniline (PANI) films were deposited on degenerated silicon (n⁺-Si) substrates covered with its native oxide (SiO₂), surface modified with amino-silane self-assembled monolayers (SAM). Scanning electron microscopy studies reveal formation of single crystal domains scattered all over the surface of film. Height and current images obtained using current-sensing AFM (C-AFM) exhibit pyramidal topography of crystallites, and inhomogeneous conductivity. As the native oxide and SAM acts as a very thin insulating layer (<2 nm) between the metal-like substrate (degenerated Si) and the PANI film, it forms n⁺-Si/SiO₂/SAM/PANI metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) heterostructure. C-AFM probe was used for I–V measurements on the MIS structures and study the tunneling conduction across it. The conductance spectra derived from I–V characteristics corroborates well with the polaron-lattice band structure of doped PANI with presence of polaron bands between the HOMO-LUMO energy gap. These polaron bands are well-resolved from our C-AFM measurements and they are located about 0.25 eV below the LUMO and above the HOMO.     

Optical and electrical characteristics of 17 keV X-rays exposed TiO2 films and Ag/TiO2/p-Si MOS device

This work presents the effect of varied doses of X-rays radiation on the Ag/TiO₂/p-Si MOS device. The device functionality was observed to depend strongly on the formation of an interfacial layer composed of SiO_x and TiO_y, which was confirmed by the spectroscopic ellipsometry. The XRD patterns showed that the as prepared TiO₂ films had an anatase phase and its exposure to varied doses of 17 keV X-rays resulted in the formation of minute rutile phase. In the X-rays exposed films, reduced Ti³⁺ state was not observed; however a fraction of Ti–O bonds disassociated and little oxygen vacancies were created. It was observed that the device performance was mainly influenced by the nature and composition of the interfacial layer formed at the TiO₂/Si interface. The spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to determine the refractive indices of the interfacial layer, which was 2.80 at λ=633 nm lying in between that of Si (3.87) and TiO₂ (2.11). The dc and frequency dependent electrical measurements showed that the interface defects (traps) were for both types of charge carriers. The presence of SiO_x was responsible for the creation of positive charge traps. The interface trap density and relaxation time (τ) were determined and analyzed by dc and frequency dependent (100 Hz–1 MHz) ac-electrical measurements. The appearance of peak in G/ω vs log (f) confirmed the presence of interface traps. The interface traps initially increased up to exposure of 10 kGy and then decreased at high dose due to compensation by the positive charge traps in SiO_x part of the interface layer. It was observed that large number of interface defects was active at low frequencies and reduced to a limiting value at high frequency. The values of relaxation time, τ ranged from 4.3±0.02×10⁻⁴ s at 0 V and 7.6±0.2×10⁻⁵ s at −1.0 V.     

Light-Harvesting in <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-ZnO/<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Silicon Heterojunctions

Zinc oxide (ZnO) films were deposited onto Si to form n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunctions. Under the illumination of by both ultraviolet (UV) light and sunlight, obvious photovoltaic behavior was observed. It was found that the conversion efficiency of the heterojunctions increased significantly with increasing thickness of the ZnO film, and the mechanism for light-harvesting in the heterojunctions is discussed. The results suggest that ZnO films may be helpful to increasing the harvesting of UV photons, thus decreasing the thermalization loss of UV energy in Si-based solar cells.     

High thermal annealing effect on structural and optical properties of ZnO–SiO2 nanocomposite

The effect of annealing temperature on photoluminescence (PL) of ZnO–SiO₂ nanocomposite was investigated. The ZnO–SiO₂ nanocomposite was annealed at different temperatures from 600 °C to 1000 °C with a step of 100 °C. High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HR-TEM) pictures showed ZnO nanoparticles of 5 nm are capped with amorphous SiO₂ matrix. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) pictures showed that samples exhibit spherical morphology up to 800 °C and dumbbell morphology above 800 °C. The absorption spectrum of ZnO–SiO₂ nanocomposite suffers a blue-shift from 369 nm to 365 nm with increase of temperature from 800 °C to 1000 °C. The PL spectrum of ZnO–SiO₂ nanocomposite exhibited an UV emission positioned at 396 nm. The UV emission intensity increased as the temperature increased from 600 °C to 700 °C and then decreased for samples annealed at and above 800^°C. The XRD results showed that formation of willemite phase starts at 800 °C and pure willemite phase formed at 1000 °C. The decrease of the intensity of 396 nm emission peak at 900 °C and 1000 °C is due to the collapse of the ZnO hexagonal structure. This is due to the dominant diffusion of Zn into SiO₂ at these temperatures. At 1000 °C, an emission peak at 388 nm is observed in addition to UV emission of ZnO at 396 nm and is believed to be originated from the willemite.     

Fabrication,temperature dependent current-voltage characteristics and photoresponse properties of Au/α-PbO2/p-Si/Al heterojunction photodiode

Thin film of lead dioxide, α-PbO₂, has been grown by thermal evaporation technique on the single crystal of p-Si substrate and heterojunction photodiode, Au/α-PbO₂/p-Si/Al, was fabricated. The current-voltage characteristics of the diode have been studied in the temperature ranged from 303 to 373 K and the voltage applied during measurements varied from −1 to 1.5 V. It was found from the (I-V) characteristics of the diode that the conduction mechanisms in the forward bias direction are controlled by the thermionic emission at bias potential ≤0.7 V followed by single trap space charge limited current (SCLC) conduction in the voltage range >0.7 V. The capacitance-voltage characteristics of the device were studied at room temperature in dark condition and it has been shown that the diode is abrupt junction. The carrier concentration on both sides of the depletion layer has been determined. Energy band diagram for α-PbO₂/p-Si device was constructed. The device under illumination with light of intensity 20 W/m² gives acceptable values of photoresponse parameters such as photosensitivity and photoconductivity. The presented photodiode parameters exhibit the typical photosensor applications with reproducibility phenomenon.     

Region-dependent behavior of I–V characteristics in n-ZnO:Al/p-Si contacts

The discrepancy of rectifying characteristics in n-ZnO:Al/p-Si heterojunctions from diode to diode was demonstrated by region dependent dark I–V characteristics, where the junction is laterally cut to sequentially decrease the area. Further investigation shows that the junction (2.1×2.1 cm²) with the barrier height Φ=0.693 eV consists of one part (2.1×1.4 cm²) with Φ=0.695 eV and the other part (2.1×0.7 cm²) with Φ=0.686 eV. It is found that reverse currents saturate with different values of 3.6×10^?3, 2.5×10^?3 and 1.58×10^?3 A for the light I–V curves of the three junctions with the same areas. To explain this peculiarity, the probable reason is discussed in terms of carrier transportation through the spatially fluctuating barrier.     

Properties of high sensitivity ZnO surface acoustic wave sensors on SiO2/(1 0 0) Si substrates

The properties of ZnO/SiO₂/Si surface acoustic wave (SAW) Love mode sensors were examined and optimized to achieve high mass sensitivity. SAW devices A and B, were designed and fabricated to operate at resonant frequencies around 0.7 and 1.5 GHz. The ZnO films grown by pulsed laser deposition on SiO₂/Si demonstrated c-axis growth and the fabricated devices showed guided shear horizontal surface acoustic wave (or Love mode) propagation. Acoustic phase velocity in the ZnO layer was measured in both devices A and B and theoretical and experimental evaluation of the mass sensitivity showed that the maximum sensitivity is obtained for devices with ZnO guiding layer thicknesses of 340 nm and 160 nm for devices A and B, respectively. The performance of the SAW sensors was validated by measuring the mass of a well-characterized polystyrene–polyacrylic acid diblock copolymer film. For the optimized sensors, maximum mass sensitivity values were as high as 4.309 μm²/pg for device A operating at 0.7477 GHz, and 8.643 μm²/pg for device B operating at 1.5860 GHz. The sensors demonstrated large frequency shifts per applied mass (0.1–4 MHz), excellent linearity, and extended range in the femto-gram region. The large frequency shifts indicated that these sensors have the potential to measure mass two to three orders of magnitude lower in the atto-gram range.     

The effects of thermal annealing on the electrical characteristics of Au/n–InP/In diode

An Au/n–InP/In diode has been fabricated in the laboratory conditions and the current–voltage (I–V) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics of the diode have been measured in room temperature. In order to observe the effect of the thermal annealing, this diode has been annealed at temperatures 100 and 200 °C for 3 min in N₂ atmosphere. The characteristic parameters such as leakage current, barrier height and ideality factor of this diode have been calculated from the forward bias I–V and reverse bias C–V characteristics as a function of annealing temperature. Also the rectifying ratio of the diode is evaluated for as-deposited and annealed diode.     

N-doped ZnO based fast response ultraviolet photoconductive detector

We report a study on the fabrication and characterization of ultraviolet photodetectors based on N-doped ZnO films. Highly oriented N-doped ZnO films with 10 at.% N doping are deposited using spray pyrolysis technique onto glass substrates. The photoconductive UV detector based on N-doped ZnO thin films, having a metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) configuration are fabricated by using Al as a contact metal. I–V characteristic under dark and UV illumination, spectral and transient response of ZnO and N-doped ZnO photodetector are studied. The photocurrent increases linearly with incident power density by more than two orders of magnitude. The photoresponsivity (580 A/W at 365 nm with 5 V bias, light power density 2 μW/cm²) is much higher in the ultraviolet region than in the visible.     

a-SiOx:H passivation layers for Cz-Si wafer deposited by hot wire chemical vapor deposition

In order to get the high photoelectric conversion efficiency a-Si:H/c-Si solar cells, high quality intrinsic hydrogenated passivation layer between the a-Si:H emitter layer and the c-Si wafer is necessary. In this work, hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) is used to deposite intrinsic oxygen-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-SiO_x:H) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films as the intrinsic passivation layer for a-Si:H/c-Si solar cells. The passivation effect of the films on the c-Si surface is shown by the effective lifetime of the samples that bifacial covered by the films with same deposition parameters, tested by QSSPC method. The imaginary part of dielectric constant (ε₂) and bonds structure of the layers are analyzed by Spectroscopic Ellipsometry(SE) and Fourier Transfom Infrared Spectroscopy(FTIR). It is concluded that: (1) HWCVD method can be used to make a-SiO_x:H films as the passivation layer for a-Si:H/c-Si cells and the oxidation of the filament can be overcome by optimizing the deposition parameters. In our experiments, the lowest surface recombination velocity of the c-Si wafer is 3.0 cm/s after a-SiO_x:H films passivation. (2) Oxygen-doping in the amorphous silicon layers can increase H content and the band-gap of films, similar as the phenomenon of the films deposited by PECVD.     

Charge transport mechanisms in anisotype n-TiO2/p-Si heterostructures

Anisotype n-TiO₂/p-Si heterojunctions are fabricated by the deposition of a TiO₂ film on a polished poly-Si substrate using magnetron sputtering. The electrical properties of the heterojunctions are investigated and the dominant charge transport mechanisms are established; these are multi-step tunneling recombination via surface states at the metallurgical TiO₂/Si interface at low forward biases V and tunneling at V > 0.6 V. The reverse current through the heterojunctions under study is analyzed within the tunneling mechanism.