Z. Khusaimi

Performance of an Ultraviolet Photoconductive Sensor Using Well-Aligned Aluminium-Doped Zinc-Oxide Nanorod Arrays Annealed in an Air and Oxygen Environment

Ultraviolet (UV) photoconductive sensors were fabricated using an aluminium (Al)-doped zinc-oxide (ZnO) nanorod array with a diameter between 40 and 150 nm and thickness of approximately 1.1 µm. The nanorod arrays were prepared using a sonicated sol–gel immersion and annealed at 500 °C under different ambient conditions of air and oxygen. The annealing process induced the formation of nanoholes on the nanorod surfaces, which increased the nanorod surface area. The nanoholes existed in larger quantities on the nanorod surfaces annealed in air compared with the nanorods annealed in an oxygen environment. This condition reduced the rise and decay time constants of the air-annealed UV sensor. However, the sample annealed in an oxygen ambient shows the highest responsivity of 1.55 A/W for UV light (365 nm, 5 mW/cm2) under a 10 V bias mainly due to defect reduction and improvement in stoichiometric properties. To the best of our knowledge, a UV photoconductive sensor using this ZnO nanostructure has not yet been reported.

Effects of annealing environments on the solution-grown, aligned aluminium-doped zinc oxide nanorod-array-based ultraviolet photoconductive sensor

We have fabricated metal-semiconductor-metal- (MSM-) type ultraviolet (UV) photoconductive sensors using aluminium- (Al-) doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod arrays that were annealed in different environments: air, oxygen, or a vacuum. The Al-doped ZnO nanorods had an average diameter of 60 nm with a thickness of approximately 600nm that included the seed layer (with thickness ∼200 nm). Our results show that the vacuum-annealed nanorod-array-based UV photoconductive sensor has the highest photocurrent value of 2.43 × 10-4 A. The high photocurrent is due to the high concentration of zinc (Zn) interstitials in the vacuum-annealed nanorod arrays. In contrast, the oxygen-annealing process applied to the Al-doped ZnO nanorod arrays produced highly sensitive UV photoconductive sensors, in which the sensitivity reached 55.6, due to the surface properties of the oxygen-annealed nanorods, which have a higher affinity for oxygen adsorption than the other samples and were thereby capable of reducing the sensors dark current. In addition, the sensor fabricated using the oxygen-annealed nanorod arrays had the lowest rise and decay time constants. Our result shows that the annealing environment greatly affects the surface condition and properties of the Al-doped ZnO nanorod arrays, which influences the performance of the UV photoconductive sensors.

Controllable Growth of Vertically Aligned Aluminum-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanorod Arrays by Sonicated Sol--Gel Immersion Method depending on Precursor Solution Volumes

Aluminium (Al)-doped zinc-oxide (ZnO) nanorod arrays have been successfully prepared using a novel and low-temperature sonicated sol–gel immersion method. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum reveals the appearance of two emission peaks from the nanorod that are centred at 381 and 590 nm. The nanorod has a hexagonal structure with a flat-end facet, as observed using field-emission electron microscopy (FESEM). Interestingly, all samples have similar surface morphologies and diameter sizes of 40 to 150 nm after immersion in different precursor-solution volumes. The thickness-measurement results show that the thicknesses of the samples increase after immersion in higher precursor-solution volumes. We show for the first time that the growth of nanorod arrays along the c-axis can be controlled using different precursor volumes, and its growth mechanism is discussed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra indicate that the prepared nanorods are ZnO with a hexagonal wurtzite structure that grows preferentially along the c-axis.

Electrical characteristics of sol-gel derived aluminum doped zinc oxide thin films at different annealing temperatures

Aluminum (Al) doped zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films with doping concentration of 1 at.% have been prepared using sol-gel spin-coating method. Annealing process has been applied on the prepared thin films at temperatures between 350 and 500 °C. The thin films were characterized using X-ray diffractometer (XRD), UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer and current voltage (I–V) measurement system for structural, optical and electrical properties characterization, respectively. XRD pattern reveals the improvement of c-axis orientation with annealing temperatures. The Urbach energy as calculated from transmittance spectra increased with annealing temperatures. I–V measurement results revealed improvement in electrical properties of the thin films with annealing temperatures.

A Review on Zinc Oxide Nanostructures: Doping and Gas Sensing

This paper presents a review on synthesis, structure, and growth mechanisms of one-dimensional nanostructures of ZnO. Solution-based method is a potential deposition technique for large-scale production as its advantages; the low cost, the simplicity of experimental set-up, and the low operating temperature. Mist-atomiser technique is one of the solution-based methods in synthesizing optimized ZnO nanostructures. Doping will lead for better properties of ZnO, which result to wide application area. Nanostructured ZnO is important in promising areas of application which devices utilizing nanostructures such as gas sensors and solar cells, since it is fairly easy to fabricate such forms of ZnO nanostructures, which have good charge carrier transport properties and high crystalline quality.

Thickness-Dependent Characteristics of Aluminium-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanorod-Array-Based, Ultraviolet Photoconductive Sensors

Aluminium (Al)-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod arrays were prepared on a seed-layer-coated glass substrate by a sonicated sol–gel immersion method. We have shown, for the first time, that the thickness of the nanorod arrays can be increased incrementally without greatly affecting the diameter of the nanorods, by increasing the number of immersions. The field-emission scanning electron micrographs and thickness measurements revealed that the nanorods had diameters within the range from 40 to 150 nm and thicknesses from 629 to 834 nm with immersion times ranging from 1 to 5 h. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra revealed that the ZnO nanorod quality was enhanced with long immersion times as shown by an improvement in the ratio of the UV peak intensity to the visible emission peak intensity, or IUV/Ivis. The thickness-dependent characteristic of Al-doped ZnO nanorod-array-based, UV photoconductive sensors was studied; minimising the thickness of the nanorod arrays was found to provide high responsivity and good performance. Our experiments showed that a decrease in the thickness of the nanorod arrays improved the responsivity and response time of the UV sensors, with a maximum responsivity of 2.13 A/W observed for a 629-nm-thick nanorod film.

ZnO Nanorod Arrays Synthesised Using Ultrasonic-Assisted Sol-Gel and Immersion Methods for Ultraviolet Photoconductive Sensor Applications

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanomaterials have emerged as one of the most promising materials for electronic devices such as solar cells, light-emitting devices, transistors, and sensors. The diverse structures of ZnO nanomaterials produce unique, useful, and novel characteristics that are applicable for high-performance devices. The ZnO nanorod array is a beneficial structure that has become extremely important in many applications due to its porosity, large surface area, high electron mobility, and variety of feasible techniques. The chemistry and physical tuning of its surface state, including processes such as annealing and chemical treatments, enhance its functionality and sensitivity and consequently improve the device performance. These useful characteristics of ZnO nanorod arrays enable the fabrication of ultraviolet (UV) photoconductive sensors with high responsivity and reliability. Although there are many techniques available to synthesise the ZnO nanorod arrays, solution-based methods offer many advantages, including the capacity for low-temperature processing, large-scale deposition, low cost, and excellent ZnO crystalline properties. In this chapter, the synthesis of ZnO nanorod arrays via ultrasonic-assisted sol-gel and immersion methods will be discussed for application to UV photoconductive sensors. The optical, structural, and electrical properties of deposited ZnO nanorod arrays will be reviewed, and the performance of the synthesised ZnO nanorod array-based UV photoconductive sensors will be discussed.

Growth Pattern of Zinc Oxide Nanorods on Gold Coated Silicon Surfaces

Nanostructured ZnO nanorods on gold (Au) coated silicon (Si) surfaces were made by solution method immerse technique, using (ZnNO3)2/HMTA at 80° C. The seed surfaces of Au were sputter‐coated on Si substrates, in which Au thicknesses were affected by current and sputter‐coating time. The morphology of the prepared nanostructure was analysed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), and the structural identification of the ZnO nanorods was carried out using X‐ray diffraction in the range of 2θ between 30°–60°. The growth intensity of ZnO nanorods on the substrate was found to be consistent from 3 nm to 12 nm of Au, at 15 nm there is a tremendous drop in growth. The resulting (hkl) peaks were found to be lattice planes of (100), (002), (101), (102) and (110). The presence of Au at thickness 3–12 nm gave preferential orientation of Zn (100), (002) and (101), though at different intensity.

The Effect of Stabiliser’s Molarity to the Growth of ZnO Nanorods

A wet chemical approach, originating from sol-gel preparation, was adopted with the intention to develop a low-temperature benign method of preparation. ZnO nanorods are successfully grown in an aqueous medium. The precursor, zinc nitrate hexahydrate (Zn(NO3)2.6H2O), is stabilized by hexamethylene tetraamine (HMTA). The effect of changing the molarity of HMTA to the structural orientation of ZnO nanorods is investigated. X-ray diffraction of the synthesized ZnO shows hexagonal zincite structure. The structural features of the nanocrystalline ZnO were studied by SEM. Structural features, surface morphology and differences in lattice orientation are seemingly influenced by varying the Zn2+: HMTA molar ratio. The formation of ZnO nanorods with blunt and sharp tips is found to be significantly affected by this ratio.

Effect of annealing temperature of magnesium doped zinc oxide nanorods growth on silicon substrate

Magnesium (Mg)-doped zinc oxides (ZnO) have been prepared on a silicon substrate by using the solution-immersion method. The nanorods films were annealed at different temperature 0°C, 250°C, 500°C respectively for 1 hour. The XRD diffraction indicated that the Mg-doped ZnO nanorods have good crystallinity with a hexagonal wurzite structure preferentially oriented along the (002) direction. PL spectroscopy at room temperature shows strong UV peaks appearing at 383 nm when annealed at 250°C. The intensity of broad emission peaks increases with increasing annealing temperature to 500°C which is possibility attributed to intrinsic defects.