A new aluminum iron oxide Schottky photodiode designed via sol–gel coating method

A novel aluminum iron oxide(Al/AlFe2O4/p-Si) Schottky photodiode was successfully fabricated via the sol–gel coating process. The microstructure of the spinel ferrite(AlFe2O4) was examined by atomic force microscopy. The current–voltage characteristics of the fabricated photodiode were studied under dark and different illumination conditions at room temperature. By using the thermionic emission theory, the forward bias I–V characteristics of the photodiode are analyzed to determine the main electrical parameters such as the ideality factor(n) and barrier height(ΦB0) of the photodiode. The values of n and ΦB0 for all conditions are found to be about 7.00 and 0.76 eV, respectively. In addition,the values of series resistance(Rs) are determined using Cheung's method and Ohm's law. The values of Rs and shunt resistance(Rsh) are decreased with the increase of illumination intensity. These new spinel ferrites will open a new avenue to other spinel structure materials for optoelectronic devices in the near future.

A new aluminum iron oxide Schottky photodiode designed via sol-gel coating method