Enhanced photoresponse performance in Ga/Ga_2O_3 nanocomposite solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors

In the present work, we explore the solar-blind ultraviolet（UV） photodetectors（PDs） with enhanced photoresponse,fabricated on Ga/Ga2O3 nanocomposite films. Through pre-burying metal Ga layers and thermally post-annealing the laminated Ga2 O3/Ga/Ga2O3 structures, Ga/Ga2O3 nanocomposite films incorporated with Ga nanospheres are obtained. For the prototype PD, it is found that the photocurrent and photoresponsivity will first increase and then decrease monotonically with the thickness of the pre-buried Ga layer increasing. Each of all PDs shows a spectrum response peak at 260 nm, demonstrating the ability to detect solar-blind UV light. Adjustable photoresponse enhancement factors are achieved by means of the surface plasmon in the nanocomposite films. The PD with a 20 nm thick Ga interlayer exhibits the best solar-blind UV photoresponse characteristics with an extremely low dark current of 8.52 p A at 10-V bias, a very high light-to-dark ratio of ～ 8 × 10~5, a large photoresponsivity of 2.85 A/W at 15-V bias, and a maximum enhancement factor of ～ 220. Our research provides a simple and practical route to high performance solar-blind UV PDs and potential applications in the field of optoelectronics.

Multifunctional solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors based on p-PCDTBT/n-Ga_(2)O_(3)heterojunction with high photoresponse

Solar-blind ultraviolet(UV)photodetectors based on p-organic/n-Ga_(2)O_(3) hybrid heterojunctions have attracted extensive attention recently.Herein,the multifunctional solar-blind photodetector based on p-type poly[N-90-heptadecanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(40,70-di-2-thienyl-20,10,30-benzothiadiazole)](PCDTBT)/n-type amorphous Ga_(2)O_(3)(a-Ga_(2)O_(3))is fabricated and investigated,which can work in the phototransistor mode coupling with self-powered mode.With the introduction of PCDTBT,the dark current of such the a-Ga_(2)O_(3)-based photodetector is decreased to 0.48 pA.Meanwhile,the photoresponse parameters of the a-Ga_(2)O_(3)-based photodetector in the phototransistor mode to solar-blind UV light are further increased,that is,responsivity(R),photo-detectivity(D*),and external quantum efficiency(EQE)enhanced to 187 A W^(-1),1.3×10^(16) Jones and 9.1×10^(4)% under the weak light intensity of 11μW cm^(-2),respectively.Thanks to the formation of the built-in field in the p-PCDTBT/n-Ga_(2)O_(3) type-Ⅱ heterojunction,the PCDTBT/Ga_(2)O_(3) multifunctional photodetector shows self-powered behavior.The responsivity of p-PCDTBT/n-Ga_(2)O_(3) multifunctional photodetector is 57.5 mA W^(-1) at zero bias.Such multifunctional p-n hybrid heterojunction-based photodetectors set the stage for realizing high-performance amorphous Ga_(2)O_(3) heterojunction-based photodetectors.

Ultraviolet Photodetector based on Sr_(2)Nb_(3)O_(10) Perovskite Nanosheets

Liquid-phase exfoliation was employed to synthesize Sr_(2)Nb_(3)O_(10) perovskite nanosheets with thicknesses down to 1.76 nm.Transmission electron microscopy(TEM),atomic force microscope(AFM),X-ray photoelectron spectrometer(XPS),and other characterization techniques were used to evaluate the atomic structure and chemical composition of the exfoliated nanosheets.A UV photodetector based on individual Sr_(2)Nb_(3)O_(10) nanosheets was prepared to demonstrate the application of an ultraviolet(UV) photodetector.The UV photodetector exhibited outstanding photocurrent and responsivity with a responsivity of 3×10^(5) A·W^(-1) at 5 V bias under 280 nm illumination,a photocurrent of 60 nA,and an on/off ratio of 3×10^(2).

Two-step growth of β-Ga_(2)O_(3) on c-plane sapphire using MOCVD for solar-blind photodetector

In this work,a two-step metal organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD)method was applied for growingβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) film on c-plane sapphire.Optimized buffer layer growth temperature(T_(B))was found at 700℃ and theβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) film with full width at half maximum(FWHM)of 0.66°was achieved.A metal−semiconductor−metal(MSM)solar-blind photodetector(PD)was fabricated based on theβ-Ga_(2)O_(3) film.Ultrahigh responsivity of 1422 A/W@254 nm and photo-to-dark current ratio(PDCR)of 10^(6) at 10 V bias were obtained.The detectivity of 2.5×10^(15) Jones proved that the photodetector has outstanding performance in detecting weak signals.Moreover,the photodetector exhibited superior wavelength selectivity with rejection ratio(R_(250 nm)/R_(400 nm))of 105.These results indicate that the two-step method is a promising approach for preparation of high-qualityβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)films for high-performance solar-blind photodetectors.

High performance solar-blind deep ultraviolet photodetectors viaβ-phase(In_(0.09)Ga_(0.91))_(2)O_(3)single crystalline film

We successfully fabricate a high performanceβ-phase(In_(0.09)Ga_(0.91))_(2)O_(3)single-crystalline film deep ultraviolet(DUV)solar-blind photodetector.The 2-inches high crystalline quality film is hetero-grown on the sapphire substrates using the plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy(PA-MBE).The smooth InGaO single crystalline film is used to construct the solar-blind DUV detector,which utilized an interdigitated Ti/Au electrode with a metal-semiconductor-metal structure.The device exhibits a low dark current of 40 pA(0 V),while its UV photon responsivity exceeds 450 A/W(50 V)at the peak wavelength of 232 nm with illumination intensity of 0.21 m W/cm^(2)and the UV/VIS rejection ratio(R232 nm/R380 nm)exceeds 4×10^(4).Furthermore,the devices demonstrate ultrafast transient characteristics for DUV signals,with fast-rising and fast-falling times of 80 ns and 420 ns,respectively.This excellent temporal dynamic behavior can be attributed to indium doping can adjust the electronic structure of Ga_(2)O_(3)alloys to enhance the performance of InGaO solar-blind detectors.Additionally,a two-dimensional DUV scanning image is captured using the InGaO photodetector as a sensor in an imaging system.Our results pave the way for future applications of two-dimensional array DUV photodetectors based on the large-scale InGaO heteroepitaxially grown alloy wide bandgap semiconductor films.

Back-illuminated Al_xGa_(1-x)N-based dual-band solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors

Back-illuminated AlxGal-xN-based dual-band solar-blind ultraviolet （UV） photodetectors （PDs） are realized by a three-terminal n-i-p-i-n heterojunction structure which is grown on sapphire substrate by metal organic chemical vapor deposition （MOCVD）. The two p-i-n junctions contained in the heterojunction structure can work separately and independently. Working in the photovoltaic mode, the PDs display peak responsivity of ～10.8 mA/W at 242 nm and ～5.0 mA/W at 257 nm, respectively. The two junctions with different size, whose diameters are 500 μm and 800 μm, exhibit almost the same leakage current of ～1.3× 10-9 A at a reverse bias of 10 V. Therefore, dark current densities of the two junctions are close to 6.6 × 10-7 A/cm2 and 2.6 × 10-7 A/cm2 at -10 V respectively.

Review of gallium-oxide-based solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors

Solar-blind photodetectors are of great interest to a wide range of industrial, civil, environmental, and biological applications. As one of the emerging ultrawide-bandgap semiconductors, gallium oxide(Ga_2O_3) exhibits unique advantages over other wide-bandgap semiconductors, especially in developing high-performance solar-blind photodetectors. This paper comprehensively reviews the latest progresses of solar-blind photodetectors based on Ga_2O_3 materials in various forms of bulk single crystal, epitaxial films, nanostructures, and their ternary alloys.The basic working principles of photodetectors and the fundamental properties and synthesis of Ga_2O_3, as well as device processing developments, have been briefly summarized. A special focus is to address the physical mechanism for commonly observed huge photoconductive gains. Benefitting from the rapid development in material epitaxy and device processes, Ga_2O_3-based solar-blind detectors represent to date one of the most prospective solutions for UV detection technology towards versatile applications.

High-speed performance self-powered short wave ultraviolet radiation detectors based onκ(ε)-Ga_(2)O_(3)

High-speed solar-blind short wavelength ultraviolet radiation detectors based onκ(ε)-Ga_(2)O_(3)layers with Pt contacts were demonstrated and their properties were studied in detail.Theκ(ε)-Ga_(2)O_(3)layers were deposited by the halide vapor phase epitaxy on patterned GaN templates with sapphire substrates.The spectral dependencies of the photoelectric properties of struc-tures were analyzed in the wavelength interval 200-370 nm.The maximum photo to dark current ratio,responsivity,detectiv-ity and external quantum efficiency of structures were determined as:180.86 arb.un.,3.57 A/W,1.78×10^(12) Hz^(0.5)∙cm·W^(-1) and 2193.6%,respectively,at a wavelength of 200 nm and an applied voltage of 1 V.The enhancement of the photoresponse was caused by the decrease in the Schottky barrier at the Pt/κ(ε)-Ga_(2)O_(3)interface under ultraviolet exposure.The detectors demon-strated could functionalize in self-powered mode due to built-in electric field at the Pt/κ(ε)-Ga_(2)O_(3)interface.The responsivity and external quantum efficiency of the structures at a wavelength of 254 nm and zero applied voltage were 0.9 mA/W and 0.46%,respectively.The rise and decay times in self-powered mode did not exceed 100 ms.

Ultraviolet photodetectors based on wide bandgap oxide semiconductor films

Ultraviolet(UV) photodetectors have attracted more and more attention due to their great potential applications in missile tracking, flame detecting, pollution monitoring, ozone layer monitoring, and so on. Owing to the special characteristics of large bandgap, solution processable, low cost, environmentally friendly, etc., wide bandgap oxide semiconductor materials, such as ZnO, ZnMgO, Ga_2O_3, TiO_2, and Ni O, have gradually become a series of star materials in the field of semiconductor UV detection. In this paper, a review is presented on the development of UV photodetectors based on wide bandgap oxide semiconductor films.

Review of deep ultraviolet photodetector based on gallium oxide

Ultraviolet(UV) photodetectors(PDs) have drawn great attention in recent years due to their potential application in civil and military fields. Because of its ultrawide bandgap, low cost, strong radiation hardness, and high thermal and chemical stability with high visible-light transparency, Ga_2O_3 is regarded as the most promising candidate for UV detection.Furthermore, the bandgap of Ga_2O_3 is as high as 4.7–4.9 eV, directly corresponding to the solar-blind UV detection band with wavelength less than 280 nm. There is no need of doping in Ga_2O_3 to tune its bandgap, compared to AlGaN, MgZnO,etc, thereby avoiding alloy composition fluctuations and phase separation. At present, solar-blind Ga_2O_3 photodetectors based on single crystal or amorphous Ga_2O_3 are mainly focused on metal–semiconductor–metal and Schottky photodiodes.In this work, the recent achievements of Ga_2O_3 photodetectors are systematically reviewed. The characteristics and performances of different photodetector structures based on single crystal Ga_2O_3 and amorphous Ga_2O_3 thin film are analyzed and compared. Finally, the prospects of Ga_2O_3 UV photodetectors are forecast.

Highly Efficient Organic Ultraviolet Photodetectors Based on Re(I) Complexes

High response organic ultraviolet photodetectors（UV-PDs） were demonstrated with 4,4＇,4”- tris[3-methyl-pheny（phenyl）amino]triphenylamine（m-MTDATA） and two Re（Ⅰ） complexes, （bathocuproine）- Re（CO）3CI（Re-BCP） and （bathophenanthroline）Re（CO）3Cl（Re-Bphen） to act as the electron donor and acceptor, re- spectively. UV-PDs have the configuration of indium tin oxide（ITO）/m-MTDATA（25 nm）/m-MTDATA：Re-complex （25-35 nm）/Re-complex（20 nm）/LiF（l nm）/Al（200 nm） with different blend layer thicknesses of 25, 30 and 35 nm. The optimized PD based on Re-Bphen offers a corrected-dark photocurrent up to 760μA/cm^2 at -10 V, corresponding to a response of 310 mA/W which is among the best values reported for organic UV-PDs. Excellent electron transport ability makes for such high photo-to-electron conversion.

A self-powered sensitive ultraviolet photodetector based on epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide

A self-powered graphene-based photodetector with high performance is particularly useful for device miniaturization and to save energy.Here,we report a graphene/silicon carbide（SiC）-based self-powered ultraviolet photodetector that exhibits a current responsivity of 7.4 m A/W with a response frequency of over a megahertz under 325-nm laser irradiation.The built-in photovoltage of the photodetector is about four orders of magnitude higher than previously reported results for similar devices.These favorable properties are ascribed to the ingenious device design using the combined advantages of graphene and SiC,two terminal electrodes,and asymmetric light irradiation on one of the electrodes.Importantly,the photon energy is larger than the band gap of SiC.This self-powered photodetector is compatible with modern semiconductor technology and shows potential for applications in ultraviolet imaging and graphene-based integrated circuits.

Effect of temperature on photoresponse properties of solar-blind Schottky barrier diode photodetector based on single crystal Ga_2O_3

A solar-blind photodetector is fabricated on single crystal Ga_2O_3 based on vertical structure Schottky barrier diode. A Cu Schottky contact electrode is prepared in a honeycomb porous structure to increase the ultraviolet(UV) transmittance.The quantum efficiency is about 400% at 42 V. The Ga_2O_3 photodetector shows a sharp cutoff wavelength at 259 nm with high solar-blind/visible(= 3213) and solar-blind/UV(= 834) rejection ratio. Time-resolved photoresponse of the photodetector is investigated at 253-nm illumination from room temperature(RT) to 85.8℃. The photodetector maintains a high reversibility and response speed, even at high temperatures.

Preparation of Ga_2O_3 thin film solar-blind photodetectors based on mixed-phase structure by pulsed laser deposition

Gallium oxide(Ga_2O_3) thin films were deposited on a-Al2O3(1120) substrates by pulsed laser deposition(PLD) with different oxygen pressures at 650?C. By reducing the oxygen pressure, mixed-phase Ga_2O_3 films with α and β phases can be obtained, and on the basis of this, mixed-phase Ga_2O_3 thin film solar-blind photodetectors(SBPDs) were prepared.Comparing the responsivities of the mixed-phase Ga_2O_3 SBPDs and the single β-Ga_2O_3 SBPDs at a bias voltage of 25 V,it is found that the former has a maximum responsivity of approximately 12 A/W, which is approximately two orders of magnitude larger than that of the latter. This result shows that the mixed-phase structure of Ga_2O_3 thin films can be used to prepare high-responsivity SBPDs. Moreover, the cause of this phenomenon was investigated, which will provide a feasible way to improve the responsivity of Ga_2O_3 thin film SBPDs.

Recent advances in Ga-based solar-blind photodetectors

Solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors have many advantages, such as low false alarm rates, the ability to detect weak signals, and high signal-to-noise ratios. Among the various functional solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors, Ga-based alloys of AlGaN and Ga_2O_3 are the most commonly adopted channel semiconductor materials and have attracted extensive research attention in the past decades. This review presents an overview of the recent progress in Ga-based solar-blind photodetectors. In case of AlGaN-based solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors, the response properties can be improved by optimizing the AlN nucleation layer and designing the avalanche structure. On the other hand, we also discuss the morphology and growth methods of Ga_2O_3 nanomaterials and their effect on the performance of the corresponding solarblind photodetectors. The mechanically exfoliated Ga_2O_3 flakes show good potential for ultraviolet detection. Also, Ga_2O_3 nanoflowers and nanowires reveal perfect response to ultraviolet light. Finally, the challenges and future development of Ga-based functional solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors are summarized.

Dual-wavelength ultraviolet photodetector based on vertical(Al,Ga)N nanowires and graphene

Due to the wide application of UV-A(320 nm–400 nm)and UV-C(200 nm–280 nm)photodetectors,dual-wavelength(UV-A/UV-C)photodetectors are promising for future markets.A dual-wavelength UV photodetector based on vertical(Al,Ga)N nanowires and graphene has been demonstrated successfully,in which graphene is used as a transparent electrode.Both UV-A and UV-C responses can be clearly detected by the device,and the rejection ratio(R254 nm/R450 nm)exceeds35 times at an applied bias of-2 V.The short response time of the device is less than 20 ms.Furthermore,the underlying mechanism of double ultraviolet responses has also been analyzed systematically.The dual-wavelength detections could mainly result from the appropriate ratio of the thicknesses and the enough energy band difference of(Al,Ga)N and Ga N sections.

Design and Performance of an AlGaN-Based p-i-n Ultraviolet Photodetector

An AIGaN-based back-illuminated ultraviolet p-i-n detector is designed and its performance is analysed both simulately and experimentally. The width of p- and i-regions has been optimized to the best theoretic values. It is indicated that the changing of responsivity with increase of bias can not be attributed to the expansion of depletion layer as it is believed, but to two reasons： 1） the effect of GaN/AlGaN heterojunction barrier to block the electrons decreases with higher bias and 2） the recombination rate of excess carriers decreases due to the building up of an electric field in depletion region. At zero bias, the simulated responsivity reaches its maximum of 0.12 A/W with quantum efficiency of 55.1%. The measured peak responsivity is more than 0.09 A/W with quantum efficiency greater than 41.6%. The experimental data are almost consistent with the results of the simulation.

High response Schottky ultraviolet photodetector formed by PEDOT:PSS transparent electrode contacts to Mg_(0.1)Zn_(0.9)O

In this paper, we report a Schottky ultraviolet photodetector based on poly（3,4-ethylenedioxy-thiophene）poly（styrenesulfonate）（PEDOT：PSS） transparent electrode contacts to Mg0.1Zn0.9O. The I-V characteristic curves of the device are measured in the dark condition and under the illumination of a 340-nm UV light. The device shows a typical rectifying behavior with a current rectification ratio of 103 at ±2 V, which exhibits a good Schottky behavior. The phototo-dark current ratio is high, which is 1×103at-4 V. A peak response of 0.156 A/W at 340 nm is observed. The device also exhibits a wide response from 250 nm to 340 nm, with a response larger than 0.1 A/W. It covers the UV-B region（280 nm-320 nm）, which makes the device very suitable for the detection of UV-B light.

Energy transfer ultraviolet photodetector with 8-hydroxyquinoline derivative-metal complexes as acceptors

We choose 8-hydroxyquinoline derivative-metal complexes（Beq,Mgq,and Znq） as the acceptors（A） and 4,4＇,4”-tri-（2-methylphenyl phenylamino） triphenylaine（m-MTDATA） as the donor（D） respectively to study the existing energy transfer process in the organic ultraviolet（UV） photodetector（PD）,which has an important influence on the sensitivity of PDs.The energy transfer process from D to A without exciplex formation is discussed,differing from the working mechanism of previous PDs with Gaq[Zisheng Su,Wenlian Li,Bei Chu,Tianle Li,Jianzhuo Zhu,Guang Zhang,Fei Yan,Xiao Li,Yiren Chen and Chun-Sing Lee 2008 Appl.Phys.Lett.93 103309）]and REq[J.B.Wang,W.L.Li,B.Chu,L.L.Chen,G.Zhang,Z.S.Su,Y.R.Chen,D.F.Yang,J.Z.Zhu,S.H.Wu,F.Yan,H.H.Liu,C.S.Lee 2010 Org.Electron.111301]used as an A material.Under 365-nm UV irradiation with an intensity of 1.2 mW/cm^2,the m-MTDATA：Beq blend device with a weight ratio of 1：1 shows a response of 192 mAAV with a detectivity of 6.5 × 10^（11） Jones,which exceeds those of PDs based on Mgq（146 mA/W） and Znq（182 mA/W） due to better energy level alignment between m-MTDATA/Beq and lower radiative decay.More photophysics processes of the PDs involved are discussed in detail.

Effect of surface oxygen vacancy defects on the performance of ZnO quantum dots ultraviolet photodetector

The slower response speed is the main problem in the application of ZnO quantum dots(QDs)photodetector,which has been commonly attributed to the presence of excess oxygen vacancy defects and oxygen adsorption/desorption processes.However,the detailed mechanism is still not very clear.Herein,the properties of ZnO QDs and their photodetectors with different amounts of oxygen vacancy(VO)defects controlled by hydrogen peroxide(H_(2)O_(2))solution treatment have been investigated.After H_(2)O_(2) solution treatment,VO concentration of ZnO QDs decreased.The H_(2)O_(2) solution-treated device has a higher photocurrent and a lower dark current.Meanwhile,with the increase in VO concentration of ZnO QDs,the response speed of the device has been improved due to the increase of oxygen adsorption/desorption rate.More interestingly,the response speed of the device became less sensitive to temperature and oxygen concentration with the increase of VO defects.The findings in this work clarify that the surface VO defects of ZnO QDs could enhance the photoresponse speed,which is helpful for sensor designing.