An all-sputtered photovoltaic ultraviolet photodetector based on co-doped CuCrO2 and Al-doped ZnO heterojunction

Abstract

We propose and fabricate a heterojunction between Al-doped ZnO and (Mg, N)-doped CuCrO2 thin films using the sputtering deposition method. These materials possess wide bandgap that makes them transparent in the visible light but excellent UV-absorbers. On the other hand, the high conductivity of these materials, respectively as n-type and p-type transparent conducting oxides, facilitates the charge transport. We show that the p–n junction fabricated from these materials has the potential to act as a high-performance UV photovoltaic photodetector. The proposed structure, demonstrates fast responses in order of sub seconds, photosensitivity of ~ 41,000, responsivity of 1.645 mA/W, and a detectivity of 3.52 × 1012 Jones that are significantly improved in comparison with the Al-doped ZnO photoconductor. This excellent improvement is attributed to the capability of the photovoltaic configuration that creates a built-in voltage and facilitates the charge separation and collection rather than recombination in the photoconductor configuration.

Fabrication of a UV Photodetector Based on n-TiO2/p-CuMnO2 Heterostructures

“…Ahmadi et al, by using the sputtering deposition method, have developed a heterojunction of thin films comprised of Al-doped ZnO and (Mg, N)-doped CuCrO 2 . These materials have a wide band gap that makes them transparent in visible light but also good UV-absorbers [23]. Dursun et al have prepared CuCrO 2 nanoparticle-decorated SnO 2 nanofiber composites as novel p-n heterostructured semiconductor photocatalysts for the degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater [24].…”

“…Based on the literature data, all photodetectors are made of nanostructures that are more promising for manufacturing and practical applications compared to simple thin p-n films [23]. Until now, CuMnO 2 films have been obtained by different deposition methods such as sol-gel, wet chemical, precipitation, gas phase, evaporation decomposition, and laser ablation.…”

P-Type α-CuGaO2Electronics: A Study on Gap States and Fermi Level Pinning and a Solution to Schottky to Ohmic Transition for Electronic Applications

“…In return, we find that the Schottky photodetector is much faster than the photoconductor device. In the Schottky photodetector, due to presence of the depletion region and a high internal electric field, charge carriers are quickly collected, so the device performs faster than the photoconductors . Nevertheless, the responsivity of the Schottky device is inferior to the Ohmic one, as evidenced by the trade-off between responsivity and response time …”

Doping-Dependent Optical Response of a Hybrid Transparent Conductive Oxide/Plasmonic Medium

“…Furthermore, the presence of occupied states at the Fermi level and the ability in screening charges in the conductive AZO have shown several times an Ohmic contact. 68 Therefore, distinguishing the type of metal/semiconductor junction cannot be accomplished just by knowing the work function of the materials involved because the role of the interface as well as the presence of defects can affect the type of contact. 69,70 Assuming that charge injection from the AZO substrate to the Au NPs is responsible for the blue-shift of the plasmon resonance, according to our calculations the relative variations of the carrier density of gold corresponding to a plasmon resonance shift from 2.06 eV to 2.11 and 2.16 eV should be 3.3 × 10 21 and 6.7 × 10 21 cm −3 , respectively.…”