Shaivalini Singh

A study of hydrothermally grown ZnO nanorod-based metal-semiconductor-metal UV detectors on glass substrates:

This study reports hydrothermally grown zinc oxide nanorod-based metal-semiconductor-metal ultraviolet detectors with palladium metal as the electrodes. The zinc oxide nanorods were deposited on glass substrates in two steps, seed layer deposition and growth of nanorods. The structural and optical properties of nanorods were examined using scanning electron microscopy and ultraviolet–vis spectroscopy, respectively. The scanning electron microscopy image showed that the growth of nanorods was uniform, and the ultraviolet–vis results indicate that the bandgap of zinc oxide nanorods was 3.23 eV. For metal-semiconductor-metal devices, interdigited metal electrodes with equal interelectrode spacing and a width of 0.3 mm were deposited above the zinc oxide nanorod thin films with a shadow mask using a thermal evaporation system. The current–voltage characteristics of the metal-semiconductor-metal detector were investigated and it showed a contrast ratio of approximately 2.10 and responsivity of approximately 0.199 A/W at 1.8 V. These results are expected to be beneficial to fabricating cheap and practical ultraviolet detection applications.

Characterization of Ag/ZnO Nanorod Schottky Diode-based Low-voltage Ultraviolet Photodetector

Ultraviolet (UV) detection characteristics of Ag Schottky contacts with ZnO nanorods (ZnO-NRs) grown on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrates have been investigated. A low-temperature hydrothermal method was used for growing ZnO-NRs. Circular contacts of Ag were deposited above the ZnO-NRs/ITO samples using the shadow mask technique. The structural properties of the ZnO-NRs were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results revealed a (0002) crystal orientation and a wurtzite hexagonal structure. The electrical characteristics of the Ag/ZnO-NR Schottky contacts were studied at forward applied bias over the range 0V to 1V, under dark and UV illumination. The dark and photocurrents were 1.29×10−5A and 2.16×10−5A, respectively, and the contrast ratio (ratio of photocurrent to dark current) was 1.67 at +1.0V for these devices. The results show that these devices could be useful for cost-effective and low-voltage UV detection applications.

Theoretical and Experimental Study of UV Detection Characteristics of Pd/ZnO Nanorod Schottky Diodes

In this work, we report theoretical and experimental study of Pd/ZnO nanorod (NR) Schottky diodes-based ultraviolet photodetector (UV-PD). The ZnO-NRs are deposited on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates by using a low-temperature hydrothermal method. The surface morphology of the ZnO-NRs film is characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM image shows vertically grown NRs with uniformity, and XRD shows the preferred (002) orientation of ZnO-NR films. The current–voltage characteristics of Pd/ZnO-NR Schottky diodes are studied under dark and UV light. A voltage bias from −1V to +1V is applied and the ratio of photocurrent to dark current was (∼0.17×102 at V=0.5V) calculated from the I–V curve. The value of responsivity was found to be 0.111A/W at λ=365nm and at bias=0.50V. An approximated UV-PD structure has also been numerically simulated using three-dimensional (3D) device simulator from Visual TCAD of Cogenda International. The simulated I–V charac...