Modulating the Function of GeAs/ReS2 van der Waals Heterojunction with its Potential Application for Short-Wave Infrared and Polarization-Sensitive Photodetection

Van der Waals heterojunction (vdWs) of 2D materials with integrated or extended superior characteristics, opening up new opportunities in functional electronic and optoelectric device applications. Exploring methods to achieve multifunctional vdWs heterojunction devices is one of the most promising prospects in this area. Herein, a diverse function of forward rectifying diode, Zener tunneling diode, and backward rectifying diodes are realized in GeAs/ReS₂ heterojunction by modulating the doping level of GeAs. The tunneling diode presents an interesting trend forward negative differential resistance (NDR) behavior which may facilitate the application of multi-value logic. More importantly, the GeAs/ReS₂ forward rectifying diode exhibits highly sensitive photodetection in the wide-spectrum range up to 1550 nm corresponding to a short-wave infrared (SWIR) region. In addition, as two strong anisotropic 2D materials of GeAs and ReS₂, the heterojunction exhibits strong polarization-sensitive photodetection behavior with a dichroic photocurrent ratio of 1.7. This work provides an effective strategy to achieve multifunctional 2D vdW heterojunction devices and develops more possibilities to broaden their functionalities and applications.     

Schottky barrier mediated single-polarity resistive switching in Pt layer-included TiO(x) memory device

A distinct unipolar but single-polarity resistive switching behavior is observed in a TiO(x)/Pt/TiO(x) trilayer structure, formed by thermal oxidation of a Ti/Pt/Ti stack. As a comparison, a memory device with a single TiO(x) active layer (without addition of Pt midlayer) is also fabricated but it cannot perform resistive switching. Energy band diagrams are illustrated to realize the modulation of Schottky barrier junctions and current conduction in TiO(x)-based devices under various biasing polarities. Introduction of the Pt midlayer creates two additional Schottky barriers, which mediate the band bending potential at each metal-oxide interface and attains a rectifying current conduction at the high-resistance state. The rectifying conduction behavior is also observed with an AFM-tip as the top electrode, which implies the rectifying property is still valid when miniaturizing the device to nanometer scale. The current rectification consequently leads to a single-polarity, unipolar resistive switching and electrically rewritable performance for the TiO(x)/Pt/TiO(x) device.     

Fabrication and characterization of transparent MEH-PPV/n-GaN (0 0 0 1) heterojunction devices

n-GaN/MEH-PPV thin film heterojunction diode was fabricated by depositing MEH-PPV thin film using spin-coating process on n-GaN (0 0 0 1). The junction properties were evaluated by measuring I-V characteristics. I-V characteristics exhibited well defined rectifying behavior with a barrier height of 0.89 eV and ideality factor of 1.7. The optical band gap of the MEH-PPV film using optical absorption method was found to be 2.2 eV and the fundamental absorption edge in the film is formed by the direct allowed transitions. At higher electric fields, the conductivity mechanism of the film shows a trap charge limited current mechanism. The obtained results indicate that the electronic parameters of the heterojunction diode are affected by properties of MEH-PPV organic film.     

Multifunctional van der Waals Broken‐Gap Heterojunction

The finite energy band‐offset that appears between band structures of employed materials in a broken‐gap heterojunction exhibits several interesting phenomena. Here, by employing a black phosphorus (BP)/rhenium disulfide (ReS₂) heterojunction, the tunability of the BP work function (Φ _BP) with variation in flake thickness is exploited in order to demonstrate that a BP‐based broken‐gap heterojunction can manifest diverse current‐transport characteristics such as gate tunable rectifying p–n junction diodes, Esaki diodes, backward‐rectifying diodes, and nonrectifying devices as a consequence of diverse band‐bending at the heterojunction. Diversity in band‐bending near heterojunction is attributed to change in the Fermi level difference (Δ) between BP and ReS₂ sides as a consequence of Φ _BP modulation. No change in the current transport characteristics in several devices with fixed Δ also provides further evidence that current‐transport is substantially impacted by band‐bending at the heterojunction. Optoelectronic experiments on the Esaki diode and the p–n junction diode provide experimental evidence of band‐bending diversity. Additionally, the p⁺–n–p junction comprising BP (38 nm)/ReS₂/BP(5.8 nm) demonstrates multifunctionality of binary and ternary inverters as well as exhibiting the behavior of a bipolar junction transistor with common‐emitter current gain up to 50.     

Realization of vertical and lateral van der Waals heterojunctions using two-dimensional layered organic semiconductors

Van der Waals (vdW) heterojunctions based on two-dimensional (2D) atomic crystals have been extensively studied in recent years.Herein,we show that both vertical and lateral vdW heterojunctions can be realized with layered molecular crystals using a two-step physical vapor transport (PVT) process.Both types of heterojunctions show clean and sharp interfaces without phase mixing under atomic force microscopy (AFM).They also exhibit a strong interfacial built-in electric field similar to that of their inorganic counterparts.These heterojunctions have greater potential for device applications than individual materials.The lateral heterojunction (LHJ) devices show rectifying characteristics due to the asymmetric energy barrier for holes at the interface,while the vertical heterojunction (VHJ) devices behave like metal-insulator-semiconductor tunnel junctions,with pronounced negative differential conductance (NDC).Our work extends the concept of vdW heterojunctions to molecular materials,which can be generalized to other layered organic semiconductors (OSCs) to obtain new device functionalities.     

退火处理对Zno/Si异质结光电转换特性的影响

采用直流反应溅射方法在p型Si(100)衬底上生长掺Al的ZnO薄膜,并研究退火处理对ZnO薄膜性质的影响。XRD测量结果表明,ZnO薄膜为六方纤锌矿结构,退火后薄膜的晶粒长大,晶界减少;暗态I-V特性曲线表明,ZnO/Si异质结具有明显的整流特性,退火后由于晶粒间界减少和空位浓度降低使反向漏电流降低1个量级;此外,退火处理能在一定程度上改善异质结的光伏效应,使其转换效率提高。     

纳米硅/单晶硅异质结二极管的电学特性

利用高真空PECVD系统在p型单晶硅上沉积掺磷n型纳米硅薄层（nc-Si:H),形成纳米硅／单晶硅Np异质结二极管,通过C－V和J－V测试研究了二极管的电学性质。C－V特性指出该异质结为突变型。J－V特性表明二极管具有很好的温度稳定性和整流特性。正偏压时二极管存在两种输运机制：小偏压时（＜0．8V）二极管电流由耗尽层纳米硅薄层一侧的载流子复合过程决定,纳米硅薄层由于能带弯曲而减小了禁带宽度,这是该二极管温度稳定性好的根本原因;大偏压（＞1．0V）时电输运符合电荷限制电流（SCLC）模型。负偏压时电流主要来自空间电荷区中的产生电流。     

有机薄膜太阳能电池

有机太阳能电池作为一种新兴的有着巨大潜力的光电转换器件,吸引了越来越多的关注。综述了有机薄膜太阳能电池主要的两种器件结构的研究进展,即基于无机异质结发展出来的双异质结型有机太阳能电池和基于扩展双层异质结活性层受限的接触面积而提出的体异质结型太阳能电池;阐述了这两种器件结构的工作原理、影响有机太阳能电池光电转换效率的因素以及两种结构的不足之处,并展望了有机太阳能电池发展的广阔前景。     

Controlled growth of a molecular bulk heterojunction photovoltaic cell.

The power conversion efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells has increased with the introduction of the donor-acceptor heterojunction that serves to dissociate strongly bound photogenerated excitons. Further efficiency increases have been achieved in both polymer and small-molecular-mass organic photovoltaic cells through the use of the bulk heterojunction (BHJ), where the distance an exciton must diffuse from its generation to its dissociation site is reduced in an interpenetrating network of the donor and acceptor materials. However, the random distribution of donor and acceptor materials in such structures can lead to charge trapping at bottlenecks and cul-de-sacs in the conducting pathways to the electrodes. Here, we present a method for growing crystalline organic films into a controlled bulk heterojunction; that is, the positions and orientations of donor and acceptor materials are determined during growth by organic vapour-phase deposition (OVPD), eliminating contorted and resistive conducting pathways while maximizing the interface area. This results in a substantial increase in power conversion efficiency compared with the best values obtained by 'random' small-molecular-weight BHJ solar cells formed by high-temperature annealing, or planar double heterojunction photovoltaic cells using the same archetypal materials systems.     

Role of majority and minority carrier barriers silicon/organic hybrid heterojunction solar cells

A hybrid approach to solar cells is demonstrated in which a silicon p-n junction, used in conventional silicon-based photovoltaics, is replaced by a room-temperature fabricated silicon/organic heterojunction. The unique advantage of silicon/organic heterojunction is that it exploits the cost advantage of organic semiconductors and the performance advantages of silicon to enable potentially low-cost, efficient solar cells.     

Observation of extremely long spin relaxation times in an organic nanowire spin valve

Organic semiconductors that are pi-conjugated are emerging as an important platform for 'spintronics', which purports to harness the spin degree of freedom of a charge carrier to store, process and/or communicate information. Here, we report the study of an organic nanowire spin valve device, 50 nm in diameter, consisting of a trilayer of ferromagnetic cobalt, an organic, Alq3, and ferromagnetic nickel. The measured spin relaxation time in the organic is found to be exceptionally long-between a few milliseconds and a second-and it is relatively temperature independent up to 100 K. Our experimental observations strongly suggest that the primary spin relaxation mechanism in the organic is the Elliott-Yafet mode, in which the spin relaxes whenever a carrier scatters and its velocity changes.     

Electrical and optical transport of GaAs/carbon nanotube heterojunctions

Heterojunctions consisting of nanotubes and an industrialized semiconductor-GaAs have been produced, and their transport properties were studied. We found that the p-doped GaAs forms an ohmic contact with a nanotube but the n-doped GaAs/nanotube heterojunction is rectifying. Analysis of measurement results at various temperatures shows that tunneling transport plays an important role. We also observed photovoltaic effects in n-GaAs/nanotube junction with the illumination of a green laser or desk lamp.     

Half wave rectification of inorganic/organic heterojunction diode at the frequency of 1 kHz

An inorganic/organic vertical heterojunction diode has been demonstrated with p-type Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) deposited by spin coating on n-type Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films. Transparent conducting GZO thin films are deposited on glass substrate by rf-magnetron sputtering. Electrical properties of GZO thin films are investigated depending on the processing temperatures. The resistivity, mobility and carrier concentration of the GZO thin films deposited at processing temperatures of 500 °C are measured to be about 3.6 × 10⁻⁴ Ω cm, 23.8 cm²/Vs and 7.1 × 10²⁰ cm³, respectively. The root mean square surface roughness of the GZO thin films is calculated to be ~ 0.9 nm using atomic force microscopy. Current-voltage characteristics of the n-GZO/p-PEDOT:PSS heterojunction diode present rectifying operation. Half wave rectification is observed with the maximum output voltage of 1.85 V at 1 kHz. Low turn-on voltage of about 1.3 V is obtained and the ideality factor of the n-GZO/p-PEDOT:PSS diode is derived to be about 1.8.     

A ZnO/p-CuInSe2 thin film solar cell prepared entirely by spray pyrolysis

The feasibility of preparing a thin film ZnO/CuInSe₂ heterojunction solar cell using the spray pyrolysis technique is demonstrated. The electrical and optical properties of ZnO were varied by changing the substrate temperature. It was found that films deposited at a substrate temperature of about 400 °C showed suitable characteristics for their use as the window material of the heterojunction. Both ZnO and CuInSe₂ were prepared by spray deposition. The junction obtained was rectifying and under the illumination characteristic of back-wall configuration (under 88mW cm^-2) showed an open-circuit voltage of 0.3 V, a short-circuit current of 23 mA cm^-2, a fill factor of 0.29 and an electrical conversion efficiency exceeding 2%. Thus we showed that a heterojunction ZnO/CuInSe₂ solar cell can be fabricated with spray-deposited films but the quality of the films requires improvement for a high efficiency cell.     

High Detectivity Graphene‐Silicon Heterojunction Photodetector

A graphene/n‐type silicon (n‐Si) heterojunction has been demonstrated to exhibit strong rectifying behavior and high photoresponsivity, which can be utilized for the development of high‐performance photodetectors. However, graphene/n‐Si heterojunction photodetectors reported previously suffer from relatively low specific detectivity due to large dark current. Here, by introducing a thin interfacial oxide layer, the dark current of graphene/n‐Si heterojunction has been reduced by two orders of magnitude at zero bias. At room temperature, the graphene/n‐Si photodetector with interfacial oxide exhibits a specific detectivity up to 5.77 × 10¹³ cm Hz^1/2 W^‐1 at the peak wavelength of 890 nm in vacuum, which is highest reported detectivity at room temperature for planar graphene/Si heterojunction photodetectors. In addition, the improved graphene/n‐Si heterojunction photodetectors possess high responsivity of 0.73 A W^?1 and high photo‐to‐dark current ratio of ≈10⁷. The current noise spectral density of the graphene/n‐Si photodetector has been characterized under ambient and vacuum conditions, which shows that the dark current can be further suppressed in vacuum. These results demonstrate that graphene/Si heterojunction with interfacial oxide is promising for the development of high detectivity photodetectors.     

Schottky and heterojunction diodes based on poly(3-octylthiophene) and poly(3-methylthiophene) films of high tensile strength

Schottky and heterojunction diodes were fabricated using high tensile strength polymers. The heterojunction diode was fabricated by sequential electrochemical polymerisation of 3-methyl thiophene and 3-octyl thiophene on an indium-tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrate. The high tensile strength enabled the bilayer (used in heterojunction diodes) or the poly 3-octyl thiophene films (used in the Schottky diodes) to be peeled of from the substrate and sandwich it between any two desired metals. It was found that the Schottky diodes of ITO (or Si)/POT/Al (or Zn) exhibit moderate rectifying behaviour and ITO (or Si)/POT/Cu devices exhibit ohmic contact. The POT/PMT heterojunction diode showed excellent rectification effect when sandwiched between any two metals irrespective of their work function. This shows that the results observed were solely due to the polymer/polymer interface. The Cu/POT/PMT/Cu heterojunction system was used in this study. The carrier-flow of the two semiconductors in the Cu/POT/PMT/Cu heterojunction diode was discussed in details. The rectification ratio, the barrier height, and the ideality factor for the heterojunction diode were found to be 64 (±1.2 V), 0.81 eV, and 5.7 under ambient conditions, respectively. Some of the important energy band parameters were also determined.     

Organic Light‐Emitting Transistors: Materials,Device Configurations,and Operations

Organic light‐emitting transistors (OLETs) represent an emerging class of organic optoelectronic devices, wherein the electrical switching capability of organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) and the light‐generation capability of organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) are inherently incorporated in a single device. In contrast to conventional OFETs and OLEDs, the planar device geometry and the versatile multifunctional nature of OLETs not only endow them with numerous technological opportunities in the frontier fields of highly integrated organic electronics, but also render them ideal scientific scaffolds to address the fundamental physical events of organic semiconductors and devices. This review article summarizes the recent advancements on OLETs in light of materials, device configurations, operation conditions, etc. Diverse state‐of‐the‐art protocols, including bulk heterojunction, layered heterojunction and laterally arranged heterojunction structures, as well as asymmetric source‐drain electrodes, and innovative dielectric layers, which have been developed for the construction of qualified OLETs and for shedding new and deep light on the working principles of OLETs, are highlighted by addressing representative paradigms. This review intends to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the design of future OLETs.     

An inverse analysis of warpage for trilayer thin-plate under thermal cycles

Thermal–mechanical behavior of a trilayer plate with micro-scale layer thicknesses is investigated using the hybrid experimental analytical inverse method (HEAIM). This study adopts and modifies an existing analytical solution by Suhir to evaluate the warpage of trilayer structures consisting of a mid-layer comparable in thickness and mechanical properties to other layers under thermal cycles. A phase-shifted shadow moiré is employed to obtain accurate measurements of the plate thermal warpage during a thermal cycle. The measurements are then inversely analyzed following a numerical approach that finally determines those uncertain material parameters of the thermal and mechanical properties for the layered plates. If all the material parameters are known, the behavior of the trilayer structure can be further evaluated analytically with enhanced certainty. HEAIM was employed to characterize and evaluate the thermal and constitutive behavior of substrate trilayer structure and its constituent materials under a thermal cycle. The proposed method can provide pertinent guidance to the modeling and design of complex trilayer structures.     

β-FeSi2/Si异质结的伏安特性分析

用磁控溅射方法制备β-FeSi2/Si异质结,在分析其伏安特性的基础上探索其是否适合制备红外探测器,XRD、SEM分析表明,该方法能得到纯净、表面平整的β-FeSi2/Si薄膜;在室温下异质结的I—V特性具有很好的整流特性,整流效率约为Idirect／Ireverse～10^2,分流电阻约为38．4kΩ,零偏压下的电流响应率约为26μA／W。推算结果表明,该异质结的红外探测率约为1．479×10^9cm·√Hz/W,适合用于制备红外探测器。     

Effect of ZnO layer thickness upon optoelectrical properties of NiO/ ZnO heterojunction prepared at room temperature

In this work, p-NiO/n-ZnO heterostructures were successfully prepared at room temperature using RF sputtering technique. The influence of ZnO layer thickness on the performance of the heterojunction was investigated. The deposited ZnO layers have a hexagonal Wurtzite structure with preferable growth orientations along (002) and (103) for thinner films. Increasing the thickness results in more crystallographic orientation randomness. The current–voltage measurements of the realized heterojunctions showed a clear rectifying behavior. The measured ideality factor varies from 2.5 to 1.6 according to the thickness of ZnO layer. The series resistance of the device is enlarged with increasing ZnO thickness. The deduced parameters from the I–V characteristics suggest that 200 nm is the optimal thickness of the ZnO layer according to our experimental conditions. We attribute the relatively better performance of this thickness to achieving reasonable compensation between serial resistance and ideality factor. The best heterojunction was tested and successfully used as a UV detector.