Metal-Semiconductor-Metal Near-Ultraviolet (~380 nm) Photodetectors by Selective Area Growth of ZnO Nanorods and SiO2 Passivation

Metal-semiconductor-metal near-ultraviolet (NUV) photodetectors (PDs) based on zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs), operating at λ ~ 380 nm, were fabricated using conventional photolithography and hydrothermal synthesis processes. The vertically aligned ZnO NRs were selectively grown in the channel area of PDs. The performance of ZnO NR-based NUV PDs was optimized by varying the solution concentration and active channel width (Wch). For the fabricated samples, their electrical and photoresponse properties were investigated under the dark state and the illumination at wavelength of ~380 nm, respectively. For the device (Wch = 30 μm) with ZnO NRs at 25 mM, the highest photocurrent of 0.63 mA was obtained with the on/off ratio of 1720 at the bias of 5 V. The silicon dioxide passivation was also carried out to improve the photoresponse properties of PDs. The passivated devices exhibited faster rise and reset times rather than those of the unpassivated devices.