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Fabrication and electrical and photosensitive properties of silicon nanowire p–n homojunctions
Author(s) -
Fang Guojia,
Cheng Yanzhao,
Ai Lei,
Li Chun,
He Jun,
Wang Chong,
Huang Huihui,
Yuan Longyan,
Zhao Xingzhong
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.200723266
Subject(s) - homojunction , nanowire , materials science , optoelectronics , responsivity , silicon , fabrication , nanotechnology , atmospheric temperature range , voltage , doping , photodetector , electrical engineering , medicine , alternative medicine , physics , pathology , meteorology , engineering
Graded silicon nanowire (SiNW) p–n homojunctions were prepared by an electroless metal deposition method on as‐prepared planar Si p–n junctions made by the B + diffusion method. The nanowire p–n junctions show good rectifying behavior and their turn‐on voltages (0.78 V at room temperature) are found to be independent of the nanowire length. Temperature‐dependent current–voltage properties in the range of 223–363 K were investigated and we demonstrated that the turn‐on voltage decreases from 0.87 V to 0.60 V and the ideality factor n reduces from 8.5 to 3.5 with increasing operating temperature. The results comply very well with the existing p–n junction electron transport mechanism. The potential barrier of a typical SiNW p–n junction obtained through capacitance–voltage measurement accords with its turn‐on voltage. Through I – V and C – V measurements, the nanowire homojunction shows good sensitivity toward visible light and a responsivity of 1.39 A/W under a 5 V reverse bias was obtained. These results present potential applications in future nano‐electronic and photonic devices based on SiNW p–n homojunction arrays. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)