Electrical and interface state density properties of polyaniline–poly-3-methyl thiophene blend/p-Si Schottky barrier diode

We have formed conjugated polymeric aniline–thiophene organic material on p-Si substrate by adding polyaniline–poly-3-methyl thiophene blend solution in acetonitrile on top of a p-Si substrate and then evaporating the solvent. It has been seen that the forward bias current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of polyaniline–poly-3-methyl thiophene blend/p-Si/Al with a barrier height value of 0.60 eV and an ideality factor value of 3.37 showed rectifying behaviour at room temperature. The polyaniline–poly-3-methyl thiophene blend/p-Si/Al Schottky barrier diode showed non-ideal I–V behaviour with the value of ideality factor greater than unity that could be ascribed to the interfacial layer, interface states and series resistance. Furthermore, Cheung's functions and modified Norde's function were used to extract the diode parameters including ideality factor, barrier height and series resistance. It has been seen that there is a good agreement between the barrier height values from all methods. However, the values of series resistance obtained from Cheung's functions is higher than the values obtained from Norde's functions. The energy distribution of interface states density, determined from forward bias current–voltage (I–V) characteristic technique at room temperature, increases exponentially with bias from 2.81 × 10¹⁶ cm^?2 eV^?1 in (0.73–E_v) eV to 1.14 × 10¹⁷ cm^?2 eV^?1 in (0.48–E_v) eV.     

Fabrication and electrical characterization of nickel/p-Si Schottky diode at low temperature

In this study the current–voltage and capacitance–voltage characteristics of metal semiconductor Ni/p-Si(100) based Schottky diode on p- type silicon measured over a wide temperature range (60–300 K) have been studied on the basis of thermionic emission diffusion mechanism and the assumption of a Gaussian distribution of barrier heights. The parameters ideality factor, barrier height and series resistance are determined from the forward bias current–voltage characteristics. The barrier height for Ni/p-Si(100) Schottky diode found to vary between 0.513 eV and 0.205 eV, and the ideality factor between 2.34 and 8.88 on decreasing temperature 300–60 K. A plot involving the use of ϕ_b versus 1/T data is used to gather evidence for the occurrence of a Gaussian distribution of barrier height and obtain the value of standard deviation. The observed temperature dependences of barrier height and ideality factor and non-linear activation energy plot are attributed to the Gaussian distribution of barrier heights at the metal-semiconductor contact. The barrier height of Ni/p-Si(100) Schottky diode was also measured over wide temperature from the capacitance-voltage study.     

Electrical and photoconducting properties of nanorod in based spinel compound/p-Si photodiode by sol–gel spin coating technique

A new Schottky diode (InFe₂O₄/p-Si/Al) was fabricated using the sol–gel spin coating technique. The current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of the Schottky diode were investigated under various illumination intensities. The value of ideality factor (n) and zero-bias barrier height (Φ_B0) for all illuminations was determined by using the forward-bias I–V measurements, and were found to be about 4.20 and 0.72 eV, respectively. The reverse current of the diode in the reverse bias increases with the increasing illumination intensities. Also, the photocurrent under illumination is higher than the dark current. In addition, the capacitance–voltage (C–V) and conductance–voltage (G–V) measurements of the diode were studied in the frequency range of 10 kHz–1 MHz. The measured values of the C decrease with the increasing frequency. The decrease in capacitance was explained on the basis of interface states. To obtain the real C and G of the diode, the measured values of C and G were corrected to eliminate the effect of series resistance. The obtained results suggest that the diode can be used as a photodiode in optoelectronic applications.     

Fabrication and electrical characterisation of the Ti/GaTe/p-Si device under 18 MeV electron irradiation

We deposited GaTe thin films with electrochemical growth technique on p-Si (100) substrate and investigated their structural and electrical properties. The electrical characteristics of the Ti/GaTe/p-Si/Al Schottky diode (SD) were determined by means of I–V (current–voltage) and C–V (capacitance–voltage) measurements. The diodes were irradiated with high energy (18 MeV) and low doses (1.38 × 10¹⁰ e^? cm^?2) electrons. The ideality factor values for Ti/GaTe/p-Si/Al structure were calculated as 1.27 and 1.53 and the barrier heights have been obtained as 0.739 and 0.706 eV from I–V measurements before and after each electron irradiations, respectively. Also, the parameters such as built-in potential, Fermi levels, acceptor concentration and barrier height of the Ti/GaTe/p-Si/Al SD have been calculated by the help of C–V measurements before and after each irradiations. The change in parameters was interpreted by the defect formation at the interface due to the electron irradiation.     

An investigation of Zn/ZnO:Al/p-Si/Al heterojunction diode by sol–gel spin coating technique

Present study shows the structural, morphological, optical characterization of sol–gel spin coated ZnO:Al film and investigation of device efficiency of Zn/ZnO:Al/p-Si/Al heterojunction diode structure. X-ray diffraction study indicates that film has hexagonal polycrystalline structure with (002) preferential direction. Atomic force microscope and scanning electron microscope images exhibit that surface of ZnO:Al/p-Si consists of homogenously scattered nanoparticles. The surface roughness of ZnO:Al film is found to be 15.24 nm. The band gap value of ZnO:Al film deposited on glass substrate is calculated to be 3.34 eV. The electrical characterization of Zn/ZnO:Al/p-Si/Al heterojunction structure is made by current–voltage (I–V) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurements. From these measurements, the heterojunction structure shows a rectifying behavior under a dark condition. The ideality factor and barrier height of Zn/n-ZnO:Al/p-Si/Al structure are calculated as 3.23 and 0.68 eV. The heterojunction structure have diode characteristic with rectification ratio at 64.4 at +2.0 V in the dark. The results suggest that Zn/ZnO:Al/p-Si/Al heterojunction diode can be successfully used in many optoelectronic applications.     

Tunneling Effect in Polythiophene

Polythiophene has been chemically synthesized using 2,5– dibromothiophene by debromination with magnesium, catalyzed by nickel chloride. The synthesized polymer was undoped using liquid ammonia and then doped again using 5% (wt/volume) aqueous FeCl₃ for 2.5, 5 and 10 hour duration. Characterization of undoped as well as doped samples using elemental analysis and FTIR has been carried out. Elemental analysis shows that concentration of Fe⁺ atoms increases as the duration of doping increases. The FTIR spectrum reveals the complex formation between FeCl₃ and polythiophene. All samples were pressed into pellets of about 1cm in diameter. The pellets were coated with gold (Au) on one side and with aluminum (Al) on other side using vacuum deposition technique. I–V measurements of undoped and FeCl₃ doped samples, after coating have been carried out using two probe method. I–V measurements, at room temperature, were carried out by applying d. c. voltage with +ve potential to the side of the pellet coated with Au and –ve potential to Al from 0 V to 1 V in step of 0.01 V and then from 1V to 15 V in step of 0.5 V. The measurements were again carried out after interchanging the polarity of the applied voltage. These characteristics are just similar to the characteristics of conventional tunnel diode in forward bias condition and like Schottky diode in reverse bias condition. Various parameters of tunnel diode such as figure of merit, voltage spread, noise figure etc are calculated using the measurements carried out. Noise figure value of undoped polythiophene is very close to ideal value. The performance of all FeCl₃ doped sample reduces, however value of the current ratio I_p/I_v (figure of merit) value for 5 hr. FeCl₃ doped polythiophene sample matches with that of silicon (Si) tunnel diode.     

Novel photoconductive Ag/nanostructure ruthenium oxide/p-type silicon Schottky barrier diode by sol–gel method

A new Schottky photodiode of Ag/RuO₂/p-Si/Al was successfully fabricated using spin-coating technique. The ruthenium oxide (RuO₂) nanoparticles with an average size of 8 nm were synthesized using a sol–gel method. The crystal structure and morphology of the synthesized RuO₂ were analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and selective area electron diffraction. The rectification ratio of the diode was found to be 112 at ±2 V. The ideality factor and barrier height values of the Ag/RuO₂/p-Si/Al diode were obtained to be 1.47 and 0.55 eV, respectively. The Cheung–Cheung and Norde’s models were used to determine the diode parameters. The photoresponse behavior of the fabricated Ag/RuO₂/p-Si/Al diode was studied under various illumination intensities. The transient photocurrent results indicate that photocurrent under illumination is higher than the dark current and this indicates that the fabricated diode behaves as a photodiode. The capacitance–voltage–frequency measurements indicate that the capacitance of the diode depends on voltage and frequency. The obtained results suggest that the new Ag/RuO₂/p-Si/Al diode can be used an optical switching device for optical sensor applications and are also expected to be generated in the future study.     

Electrical properties of polypyrrole/p‐InP structure

The polypyrrole/p‐InP structure has been fabricated by the electrochemical polymerization of the organic polypyrrole onto the p‐InP substrate. The current–voltage (I–V), capacitance–voltage (C–V), and capacitance–frequency (C–f) characteristics of the PPy/p‐InP structure have been determined at room temperature. The structure showed nonideal I–V behavior with the ideality factor and the barrier height 1.48 and 0.69 eV respectively. C–f measurements of the structure have been carried out using the Schottky capacitance spectroscopy technique and it has been seen that there is a good agreement between the experimental and theoretical values. Also, it has been seen that capacitance almost show a plateau up to a certain value of frequency, after which, the capacitance decreases. The higher values of capacitance at low frequencies were attributed to the excess capacitance resulting from the interface states in equilibrium with the p‐InP that can follow the a.c. signal. The interface state density N_ss and relaxation time τ of the structure were determined from C–f characteristics. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 1572–1579, 2006     

Controlling the electrical characteristics of Au/n‐Si structure with and without (biphenyl‐CoPc) and (OHSubs‐ZnPc) interfacial layers at room temperature

In order to interpret well whether or not the organic or polymer interfacial layer is effective on performance of the conventional Au/n‐Si (metal semiconductor [MS]) type Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs), in respect to ideality factor (n ), leakage current, rectifying rate (RR ), series and shunt resistances (R_s , R_sh ) and surface states (N_ss ) at room temperature, both Au/biphenyl‐CoPc/n‐Si (MPS₁) and Au/OHSubs‐ZnPc/n‐Si (MPS₂) type SBDs were fabricated. The electrical characteristics of these devices have been investigated and compared by using forward and reverse bias current–voltage (I–V ) characteristics in the voltage range of (?4 V)–(4 V) for with and without (biphenyl‐CoPc) and (OHSubs‐ZnPc) interfacial layers at room temperature. The main electrical parameters of these diodes such as reverse saturation current (I₀ ), ideality factor (n ), zero‐bias barrier height (Φ_B0 ), RR , R_s and R_sh were found as 1.14 × 10^?5 A, 5.8, 0.6 eV, 362, 44 Ω and 15.9 kΩ for reference sample (MS), 7.05 × 10^?10 A, 3.8, 0.84 eV, 2360, 115 Ω and 270 kΩ for MPS1 and 2.16 × 10^?7 A, 4.8, 0.7 eV, 3903, 62 Ω and 242 kΩ for MPS₂, respectively. It is clear that all of these parameters considerably change by using an organic interfacial layer. The energy density distribution profile of N_ss was found for each sample by taking into account the voltage dependence of effective barrier height (Φ_e ) and ideality factor, and they were compared. Experimental results confirmed that the use of biphenyl‐CoPc and OHSubs‐ZnPc interfacial layer has led to an important increase in the performance of the conventional of MS type SBD. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Polyaniline/gallium doped ZnO heterostructure device via plasma enhanced polymerization technique: Preparation, characterization and electrical properties

The ZnO and gallium-doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by simple chemical method and used for the fabrication of p-polyaniline/n-ZnO heterostructures devices in which polyaniline was deposited by plasma-enhanced polymerization. The increment in the crystallite sizes of gallium doped ZnO nanoparticles from ~21.85 nm to ~32.39 nm indicated the incorporation of gallium ion into the ZnO nanoparticles. The surface and structural studies investigated the participation of protonated N atom for the bond formation between polyaniline and gallium-ZnO through partial hydrogen bonding. Compared to a Pt/polyaniline/ZnO diode, the fabricated Pt/polyaniline/gallium-ZnO heterostructure diode exhibited good rectifying behavior with Current–Voltage characteristics of improved saturation current, low ideality factor, and a high barrier height might due to the efficient charge conduction via gallium ion at the junction of the polyaniline/gallium doped-ZnO interface.

Alkyl Monolayer Passivated Metal–Semiconductor Diodes: 2: Comparison with Native Silicon Oxide

To understand the electrical properties at passivated metal–semiconductor interfaces, two types of mercury–insulator–silicon (n‐type) junctions, Hg|C₁₀H₂₁? Si and Hg|SiO₂? Si, were fabricated and their current–voltage and capacitance–voltage characteristics compared. Both of them exhibited near‐ideal rectifying characteristics with an excellent saturation current at reverse bias, which is in contrast to the previously reported ohmic behavior of an unmodified mercury–silicon junction. The experimental results also indicated that the n‐decyl monolayer passivated junction possesses a higher effective barrier height, a lower ideality factor (that is, closer to unity), and better reproducibility than that of native silicon oxide. In addition, the dopant density and build‐in potential, extracted from capacitance–voltage measurements of these passivated mercury–silicon junctions, revealed that alkyl monolayer derivatization does not alter the intrinsic properties of the silicon substrate. The calculated surface state density at the alkyl monolayer|silicon interface is lower than that of the silicon oxide|silicon interface. The present study increases the possibility of using advanced organic materials as ultrathin insulator layers for miniaturized, silicon‐based microelectronic devices.     

Effects of FeCl3 as oxidizing agent on the conduction mechanisms in polypyrrole (PPy)/pc–ZnO hybrid heterojunctions grown by oxidative chemical vapor deposition

P‐type polypyrrole (PPy) films are deposited on glass and on n‐type polycrystalline ZnO (pc–ZnO) substrates by oxidative chemical vapor deposition under three different amounts of FeCl₃ used as oxidizing agents to form hybrid heterojunctions. Their microstructure, morphology, and electrical characteristics are studied. Particularly, current–voltage characteristics of the PPy/pc–ZnO heterojunctions are analyzed by defining an electrical equivalent circuit. The extracted parameters, together with the estimated heterojunction barrier height and the HOMO energy level of the PPy, indicate that a thermionic emission of holes at the heterojunction determines the saturation current of the diode at low voltage. For larger FeCl₃ amounts, the diode ideality factor increases indicating an increment of recombination by tunneling of charge carriers occurring at the heterojunction. This is attributed to a narrowing of the space charge region due to an increment of the number of charge carriers with a growing amount of FeCl₃. At high voltages, the PPy thickness influences the ohmic and space–charge limited current mechanisms at the bulk region. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016 , 54, 1537–1544     

Effect of hydroquinone on the electrical properties of dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid doped polypyrrole/aluminum Schottky junction

Electrical properties of Schottky barrier diode fabricated using Aluminum for Schottky contact and indium tin oxide for ohmic contact and containing polypyrrole doped with dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid in the presence and in the absence of a plasticizing agent hydroquinone were studied. Various parameters, e.g. saturation current, ideality factor, built in voltage; carrier concentration and barrier height have been calculated and found to be affected by the presence of hydroquinone in the doped polymer. The electrical behavior of the systems was found to be in a good agreement with the thermionic emission model for the Schottky barrier devices. The interaction of the doped polypyrrole with hydroquinone was explained in terms of change in the barrier height and in the carrier concentration of the diodes.     

Fabrication and conduction mechanism evaluation of polyfluorene polymeric Schottky diode

A thin film of polyflourene polymer was sandwiched between a conductive polymer deposited on silver nanowire and metal electrode to form a multilayer polymer‐based diode device. The electrical properties of fabricated polymeric diode have been studied by current–voltage method. The current–voltage characteristics of the fabricated device exhibited non‐ideal, asymmetrical, and rectifying behavior. Ohmic current conduction mechanism was observed in the device at low voltage. At higher voltage values, the space‐charge‐limited current conduction mechanism was found to be dominated. The values of the Schottky barrier height, ideality factor, and saturation current density were extracted according to the standard thermionic emission model and discussed. The barrier height and ideality factor were calculated as 0.72 eV and 2.53, respectively. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Junction properties of In2O3:Al2O3 composite on p-type silicon by sol–gel method

Schottky barrier diode based on composite of In₂O₃ and Al₂O₃ was fabricated using sol–gel spin coating method. The electrical properties of the diode were studied using current–voltage, capacitance–voltage and resistance–voltage characteristics. The non-linear I–V characteristics suggest the formation of Schottky barrier diode. The I–V characteristics of the diode were analyzed using the thermionic emission model. The electrical properties of the diode were investigated in the temperature range of 303–243 K. It was observed that the barrier height of the diode increases with increase in temperature. The capacitance of the diode was measured at various frequencies and temperatures. It was seen that the capacitance of the diode is decreased with increase in frequency. On the other hand, the capacitance was observed to increase with increasing temperature.     

Conductance and capacitance–frequency characteristics of polypyrrole/p‐type silicon structures

We formed a polypyrrole/p‐type silicon device by an anodization process. An aluminum electrode was used as an ohmic contact. From the current–voltage characteristics of the device, barrier height and ideality factor values of 0.662 eV and 1.734, respectively, were obtained from a forward‐bias current–voltage plot. Low capacitance–frequency and conductance–frequency measurements from 0.00 to 0.30 V with steps of 0.02 V were made. At each frequency, the measured capacitance decreased with increasing frequency because of a continuous distribution of the interface states in the frequency range of 5.0 Hz to 2.0 MHz. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 1334–1338, 2003     

Flash memory effects based on styrene/maleimiade copolymers with pendant azobenzene chromophores

Two styrene/maleimiade copolymers with pendant azobenzene chromophores, poly(styrene-1-(4-phenylazo-phenyl)-pyrrole-2,5-dione) (PS-DP) and poly((4-vinyl-benzyl)-9H-carbazole-1-(4-phenylazo-phenyl)-pyrrole-2,5-dione) (PVCz-DP), were synthesized. The polymeric memory devices based on each of the two polymer films (ITO/Polymer/Al) show similar rewritable flash memory behaviors but different transition voltages. By introduction of carbazole groups in the polymer side chains, the voltage difference from OFF to ON state of ITO/PVCz-DP/Al is reduced obviously in comparison with that of ITO/PS-DP/Al, which is beneficial to the protection of devices. Both ITO/PS-DP/Al and ITO/PVCz-DP/Al show high stability under a constant stress or continuous read pulses voltage of 1.0 V. The memory mechanism is governed by space-charge limited conduction (SCLC) on the basis of the I–V curves of these fabricated memory devices. With excellent flash memory characteristics and simple processability, the memory devices fabricated with these two styrene/maleimiade copolymers have potential applications for the future electronic memory devices.     

Influence of monomer concentration on polycarbazole–polyindole (PCz–PIn) copolymer properties: Application in Schottky diode

Copolymerization of carbazole (Cz) and indole (In) is successfully performed through potentiostatic polymerization; and the influence of the monomer concentrations ratio on copolymer formation, is investigated. It is found that 1:2 ratio of Cz to In monomer is optimum for the synthesis of a copolymer with high electroactivity. The structural, optical, thermal and morphological analysis of the copolymers are carried out with UV–vis, FT–IR spectroscopy, differential scanning coulometry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) technique. Electrochemical and thermal studies, further support better redox activity and thermal stability of the copolymer, respectively. We also report fabrication and characterizations of the electrochemically synthesized copolymer in organic Schottky diode with configuration metal Al/copolymer/indium tin oxide coated glass (ITO). The current density–voltage (J–V) characteristic of the Schottky diode is consequential in extracting the electronic parameters and the charge transport mechanism of the devices.     

Study of barrier height inhomogeneity at zinc oxide/polymer:fullerene interface in polymer solar cells

Dark current density‐voltage (J‐V) characteristics of polymer solar cell with inverted structure have been measured in the temperature range 190 to 350 K. Ideality factor (n) and dark saturation current (J₀) have been extracted from forward bias J‐V characteristics at different temperatures. The ideality factor is found to decrease, and J₀ increases with the increase in temperature. Estimated zero‐bias barrier height (Φ_B) with the temperature also shows similar trend like J₀. This observed behavior is attributed to the presence of inhomogeneous Schottky barrier at the ZnO/polymer:fullerene interface. Further, this has been confirmed that the barrier height inhomogeneities at the interface have Gaussian distribution with mean zero‐bias barrier height  = 1.15 eV and zero‐bias standard deviation σ_S0 = 0.155 V. We calculated the Richardson constant (A*) using modified versus 1/T plot and obtained value as approximately 48.11 A cm⁻² K⁻², which is close to the value taken from the literature.     

A Photoelectrochemical Solar Cell Consisting of a Cadmium Sulfide Photoanode and a Ruthenium–2,2′‐Bipyridine Redox Shuttle in a Non‐aqueous Electrolyte

A photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell consisting of an n‐type CdS single‐crystal electrode and a Pt counter electrode with the ruthenium–2,2′‐bipyridine complex [Ru(bpy)₃]^2+/3+ as the redox shuttle in a non‐aqueous electrolyte was studied to obtain a higher open‐circuit voltage (V_OC) than the onset voltage for water splitting. A V_OC of 1.48 V and a short‐circuit current (I_SC) of 3.88 mA cm^?2 were obtained under irradiation by a 300 W Xe lamp with 420–800 nm visible light. This relatively high voltage was presumably due to the difference between the Fermi level of photo‐irradiated n‐type CdS and the redox potential of the Ru complex at the Pt electrode. The smooth redox reaction of the Ru complex with one‐electron transfer was thought to have contributed to the high V_OC and I_SC. The obtained V_OC was more than the onset voltage of water electrolysis for hydrogen and oxygen generation, suggesting prospects for application in water electrolysis.