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Fast Photoresponse and Long Lifetime UV Photodetectors and Field Emitters Based on ZnO/Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Films

MetadataDetails
Publication Date2015-09-18
JournalChemistry - A European Journal
AuthorsAdhimoorthy Saravanan, Bohr‐Ran Huang, Jun‐Cheng Lin, Gerd Keiser, I‐Nan Lin
InstitutionsTamkang University, Boston University
Citations25

Abstract We have designed photodetectors and UV field emitters based on a combination of ZnO nanowires/nanorods (ZNRs) and bilayer diamond films in a metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structure. The ZNRs were fabricated on different diamond films and systematic investigations showed an ultra‐high photoconductive response from ZNRs prepared on ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) operating at a lower voltage of 2 V. We found that the ZNRs/UNCD photodetector (PD) has improved field emission properties and a reduced turn‐on field of 2.9 V ÎŒm −1 with the highest electron field emission (EFE) by simply illuminating the sample with ultraviolet (UV) light. The photoresponse ( I photo / I dark ) behavior of the ZNRs/UNCD PD exhibits a much higher photoresponse (912) than bare ZNRs (229), ZNRs/nanocrystalline diamond (NCD; 518), and ZNRs/microcrystalline diamond (MCD; 325) under illumination at λ =365 nm. A photodetector with UNCD films offers superior stability and a longer lifetime compared with carbon materials and bare ZNRs. The lifetime stability of the ZNRs/UNCD‐based device is about 410 min, which is markedly superior to devices that use bare ZNRs (92 min). The ZNRs/UNCD PD possesses excellent photoresponse properties with improved lifetime and stability; in addition, ZNRs/UNCD‐based UV emitters have great potential for applications such as cathodes in flat‐panel displays and microplasma display devices.