Hybrid Graphene/Silicon Schottky photodiode with intrinsic gating effect

TL;DR

This paper introduces a hybrid graphene/silicon Schottky photodiode with an intrinsic gating effect that achieves high photoresponse and detectivity, leveraging minority carrier diffusion and interface effects for improved photodetection performance.

Contribution

It presents a novel hybrid device structure combining a graphene/silicon Schottky diode with a capacitor, demonstrating enhanced photodetection capabilities and revealing the role of thermally generated carriers in device leakage.

Findings

Photoresponse up to 3 AW^(-1)

Normalized detectivity > 3.5×10^12 cmHz^(1/2) W^(-1)

Zero-bias Schottky barrier of 0.52 eV

Abstract

We propose a hybrid device consisting of a graphene/silicon (Gr/Si) Schottky diode in parallel with a Gr/SiO2/Si capacitor for high-performance photodetection. The device, fabricated by transfer of commercial graphene on low-doped n-type Si substrate, achieves a photoresponse as high as 3 AW^(-1) and a normalized detectivity higher than 3.5 10^12 cmHz^(1/2) W^(-1) in the visible range. The device exhibits a photocurrent exceeding the forward current, because photo-generated minority carriers, accumulated at Si/SiO2 interface of the Gr/SiO2/Si capacitor, diffuse to the Gr/Si junction. We show that the same mechanism, when due to thermally generated carriers, although usually neglected or disregarded, causes the increased leakage often measured in Gr/Si heterojunctions. At room temperature, we measure a zero-bias Schottky barrier height of 0.52 eV, as well as an effective Richardson constant A**=4 10^(-5) Acm^(-2) K^(-2) and an ideality factor n=3.6, explained by a thin (< 1nm) oxide layer at the Gr/Si interface.