Investigate the Electrical and Structural Characteristics of the Si-ZnO Diode

Silicon-zinc oxide (Si-ZnO) junction has been prepared using the chemical bath technique. The zinc oxide layer was examined using different techniques, including X-ray spectroscopy and a UV-visible spectrophotometer. The ZnO film images show that the films are homogeneous with an average grain size of 70 nm, while the X-ray spectrum shows that the layers are amorphous with some crystalline phase peaks appearing between 2θ=20° and 35°, which belong to ZnO. Transmittance, absorbance and extinction coefficient were varied over the visible light wavelength range, and the energy gap of the films was about 2.6 eV. In both forward and reverse bias, the junction revealed diode characteristics. The influence of light on the current intensity was evident and reached about 240 mA compared to the current intensity in the dark state. Also, the current intensity of the diode increased at each applied voltage with the increase in the intensity of the light shining on it.