Low temperature-processed ZnO thin films for p-n junction-based visible-blind ultraviolet photodetectors

Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors have drawn extensive attention due to their numerous applications in both civilian and military areas including flame detection, UV sterilization, aerospace UV monitoring, missile early warning, and ultraviolet imaging. Zinc oxide (ZnO)-based UV detectors exhibit rema...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:RSC advances 2018-11, Vol.8 (65), p.37365-37374
Main Authors: B, Hanna, K P, Surendran, K N, Narayanan Unni
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceptable noise levels
Annealing
Atomic beam spectroscopy
Atomic force microscopy
Bias
Chemistry
Fourier transforms
High temperature
Hole mobility
Infrared analysis
Light scattering
Low temperature
Microscopy
Nanoparticles
P-n junctions
Photodiodes
Photoluminescence
Photometers
Photon correlation spectroscopy
Quantum efficiency
Scanning electron microscopy
Spectrum analysis
Sterilization
Thin films
Ultraviolet detectors
Zinc oxide
Zinc oxides
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Summary:Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors have drawn extensive attention due to their numerous applications in both civilian and military areas including flame detection, UV sterilization, aerospace UV monitoring, missile early warning, and ultraviolet imaging. Zinc oxide (ZnO)-based UV detectors exhibit remarkable performance; however, many of them are not visible-blind, and the fabrication techniques involve a high-temperature annealing step. Here, we fabricated a p-n junction photodiode based on annealing-free ZnO thin films prepared from ZnO nanoparticles and N , N ′-di(1-naphthyl)- N , N ′-diphenyl-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine (NPB). NPB was chosen due to its transparent nature in the visible region and high hole mobility. The ZnO nanoparticles and thin films were characterized by UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) particle size analysis, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, XRD and profilometry. The device exhibited responsivity of 0.037 A/W and an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 12.86% at 5 V bias under 360 nm illumination. In addition, with no biasing, the device exhibited an on-off ratio of more than 10 3 and a linear dynamic range (LDR) of 63 dB. A high built-in potential at the ZnO/NPB interface could be the reason for this performance at zero bias. The rise and fall times were 156 ms and 319 ms, respectively. The results suggest that a visible-blind UV photodetector with acceptable performance can be fabricated using annealing-free ZnO films, which may lead to the realization of flexible detectors due to the low-temperature processes involved. Visible-blind ultraviolet photodetectors have been fabricated with a p-n junction based on ZnO and an organic hole transport layer.
ISSN:2046-2069
2046-2069
DOI:10.1039/c8ra07312k