Characterization of the triphenylmethane dye (Patent Blue V)-modified Al/p-Si diode

The sol-gel spin coating method, an easily applicable, low-temperature, and inexpensive method, was used to grow Patent Blue V (PBV) organic thin films placed between metal and semiconductor. Atomic force microscope images were taken to reveal the morphological structure of the resulting organic film. FTIR, NMR, and UV-Vis measurements were taken to investigate the chemical features and optical structure of the PBV molecule. Using the traditional I-V, Cheung, and Norde methods of the produced Al/PBV/p-Si diode structure, ideality factor (n), barrier height (Φ_b), series resistance (R_s), and interfacial density of states (N_ss) parameters were calculated. The differences between the results obtained with these methods arise from calculating the I-V characteristic of the methods from different regions. The ideality value of n for the produced diodes is much greater than one (n >  > 1). Deviating the calculated n value from 1 indicates possible mechanisms, such as generation-recombination effect, organic PBV layer, and interfacial states. It was observed that the electronic parameters of the Al/p-Si conventional junction can be controlled using an organic PBV interlayer.

Graphical abstract