Abstract
Abstract
In the present study, both metal/semiconductor (MS) and metal/polymer/semiconductor (MPS) Schottky Diodes (SDs) were grown onto the same n-Si wafer to compare their electrical and optical characteristics. Firstly, ZnO and CeO2 nanostructures were synthesized by ultrasonic-assisted method (UAM), and structurally characterized by utilizing x-ray diffraction (XRD), Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), and Fourier-Transform-IR (FTIR) methods. The mean submicron crystallite sizes were estimated to be below 11.39 nm for CeO2 and 54.37 nm for ZnO nanostructures through the Debye–Scherrer method. The optical bandgap was calculated as 3.84 eV for CeO2 and 3.88 eV for ZnO nanostructures via Tauc plot. Electrical parameters such as reverse-saturation current (Io), ideality-factor (n), zero-bias barrier height (ΦBo), and rectification-ratio (RR) were found as 0.596 μA, 5.45, 0.64 eV, 2.74 × 105 in dark and 5.54 μA, 5.88, 0.59 eV, 8.60 × 103 under illumination for the MS SD and 0.027 μA, 4.36, 0.72 eV, 1.85 × 107 in dark and 0.714 μA, 5.18, 0.64 eV, 7.61 × 104 under illumination for the MPS SD, respectively. The energy-dependent profile of surface-states was obtained via the Card-Rhoderick method, by considering ΦB(V) and n. RR of the MPS SD is almost sixty-seven times the RR of the MS SD in the dark. The sensitivity of the MPS SD (=710) is nineteen and five-tenths the sensitivity of the MS SD (=36.4), so the MPS SD is considerably more sensitive to illumination. These results indicate that the (ZnO:CeO2:PVP) organic interlayer significantly improves the performance of the MS SD.