Ultraviolet Photoresponse Properties of Zinc Oxide Nanorods on Heavily Boron-Doped Diamond Heterostructure

Abstract:

Heterostructures consisting of ZnO and diamond appear to have an elusive nature. A rectifying behaviour was previously observed only for heterojunctions with very lightly doped p-type diamond using residual boron gas during the chemical vapour deposition process or type IIb diamond. Other studies, however, claimed to obtain a rectifying behaviour for heterojunctions with p-type diamond with higher carrier densities between 10¹⁸ 10¹⁹ cm^-3. In this work we investigate the behaviour of n-type ZnO on heavily boron-doped p-type diamond. This heterostructure that is sensitive to UV light has been fabricated using ZnO nanorods grown on heavily boron-doped chemical vapour deposition diamond substrates. The I - V measurements show a rectifying characteristic. The threshold voltages under dark and UV conditions are 3.66 and 2.52 V, respectively. The UV illumination also results in an increased current flow. The electrical behaviour due to the UV illumination will be discussed.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 832)
• Pages: 172-177
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.832.172
• Online since: November 2013
• Authors: Kim Guan Saw, Sau Siong Tneh, Swee Yong Pung, Sha Shiong Ng, F.K. Yam, Zainuriah Hassan
• Keywords: Heavily Boron-Doped Diamond, Heterostructure, Nanorods, Zinc Oxide (ZnO)

References

[1] P.Y. Yang, J.L. Wang, W.C. Tsai, S.J. Wang, J.C. Lin, I.C. Lee, C.T. Chang, H.C. Cheng, Photoresponse of hydrothermally grown lateral ZnO nanowires, Thin Solid Films 518 (2010) 7328 – 7332.

DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2010.04.104

[2] L. Luo, Y. Zhang, S.S. Mao, L. Lin, Fabrication and characterization of ZnO nanowires based UV photodiodes, Sens. Actuators A 127 (2006) 201 – 206.

DOI: 10.1016/j.sna.2005.06.023

[3] H.S. Sun, Q.F. Zhang, J.L. Wu, Electroluminescence from ZnO nanorods with an n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunction structure, Nanotechnology 17 (2006) 2271 – 2274.

DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/17/9/033

[4] O. Harnack, C. Pacholski, H. Weller, A. Yasuda, J.M. Wessels, Rectifying behavior of electrically aligned ZnO nanorods, Nano Lett. 3 (2003) 1097 – 1101.

DOI: 10.1021/nl034240z

[5] E. Kohn, A. Denisenko, Concepts for diamond electronics, Thin Solid Films 515 (2007) 4333 – 4339.

DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2006.07.179

[6] A. Hikavyy, P. Clauws, K. Vanbesien, P. de Visschere, O.A. Williams, M. Daenen, K. Haenen, J.E. Butler, T. Feygelson, Atomic layer deposition of ZnO thin films on boron-doped nanocrystalline diamond, Diam. Relat. Mater. 16 (2007) 983 – 986.

DOI: 10.1016/j.diamond.2006.11.035

[7] K.G. Saw, S.S. Tneh, F.K. Yam, S.S. Ng, Z. Hassan, Ultraviolet photoresponse properties of zinc oxide on type IIb diamond heterojunction, Physica B 405 (2010) 4123.

DOI: 10.1016/j.physb.2010.06.064

[8] K. Thonke, The boron acceptor in diamond, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 18 (2003) S20 – S26.

DOI: 10.1088/0268-1242/18/3/303

[9] C.X. Wang, G.W. Yang, C.X. Gao, H.W. Liu, Y.H. Han, J.F. Luo, G.T. Zou, Highly oriented growth of n-type ZnO films on p-type single crystalline diamond films and fabrication of high quality transparent ZnO/diamond heterojunction, Carbon 42 (2004) 317 – 321.

DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2003.10.038

[10] D.D. Sang, H.D. Li, S.H. Cheng, Q.L. Wang, Q. Yu and Y.Z. Yang, Electrical transport behavior of n-ZnO nanorods/p-diamond heterojunction device at higher temperatures, J. Appl. Phys. 112 (2012) 036101.

DOI: 10.1063/1.4745039

[11] Q.H. Li, T. Gao, Y.G. Yang, T.H. Wang, Adsorption and desorption of oxygen probed from ZnO nanowire films by photocurrent measurements, Appl. Phys. Lett. 86 (2005) 123117.

DOI: 10.1063/1.1883711

[12] S.E. Ann, H.J. Ji, K. Kim, G.T. Kim, C.H. Bae, S.M. Park, Y.K. Kim, J.S. Ha, Origin of the slow photoresponse in an individual sol-gel synthesized ZnO nanowire, Appl. Phys. Lett. 90 (2007) 153106.

DOI: 10.1063/1.2721289

[13] C. Soci, A. Zhang, B. Xiang, S.A. Dayeh, D.P.R. Aplin, J. Park, X.Y. Bao, Y.H. Lo, D. Wang, ZnO nanowire UV photodetectors with high internal gain, Nano Lett. 7 (2007) 1003 – 1009.

DOI: 10.1021/nl070111x

[14] X.G. Zheng, Q. Sh. Li, W. Hu, D. Chen, N. Zhang, M.J. Shi, J.J. Wang, L.Ch. Zhang, Photoconductive properties of ZnO thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition, J. Lumin. 122 – 123 (2007) 198.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jlumin.2006.01.090

[15] M. Liu, H.K. Kim, Ultraviolet detection with ultrathin ZnO epitaxial films treated with oxygen plasma, Appl. Phys. Lett. 84 (2004) 173 – 175.

DOI: 10.1063/1.1640468