Nickel oxide (NiO)
and magnesium oxide (MgO) thin films were inserted
into p-Si/n-ZnO heterojunction photodiodes (HPDs), and their mechanisms
in enhancing ultraviolet (UV) response and suppressing visible response
were studied. The insertion of the MgO layer greatly reduced the leakage
current of the HPDs due to the passivation of surface states in ZnO
and hence enhanced the rectification ratio from 258.7 to 3769.2 by
14.6-times. HPDs with the NiO layer exhibited the highest UV response
and photocurrent for all HPDs because NiO absorbs UV light. HPDs with
the MgO layer demonstrated the least visible response and dark current.
Among all of the HPDs, those with the NiO layer exhibited the largest
UV-to-visible rejection ratio, while those with the MgO layer had
the highest photo-to-dark current ratio and detectivity. The UV-to-visible
rejection ratio was greatly enhanced from 101.1 to 652.3 by 6.4-times
after the insertion of the NiO layer, and the photo-to-dark current
ratio was enhanced from 3.3 × 102 to 4.5 × 104, by 136.4-times, after the insertion of the MgO layer. The
HPDs with NiO insertion layer presented the fastest transient response,
and those with MgO insertion revealed the slowest transient response
due to the carrier trapping. Related mechanism for the improvements
was elucidated by the band diagram.