Abstract
Nitrogen-doped ultrananocrystalline diamond/hydrogenated amorphous carbon (UNCD/a-C:H) films were grown by coaxial arc plasma deposition in the ambient of nitrogen and hydrogen mixed gases. Synthesized films were structurally investigated by X-ray photoemission and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopies. A heterojunction with p-type Si substrate was fabricated to study the ultraviolet photodetection properties of the film. Capacitance–voltage measurements assure the expansion of a depletion region into the film side. Current–voltage curves in the dark showed a good rectifying behaviour in the bias voltages range between ±5 V. Under 254 nm monochromatic light, the heterojunction shows a capability of deep ultraviolet light detection, which can be attribute to the existence of UNCD grains. As the diode was cooled from 300 K down to 150 K, the detectivity has a notable enhancement from 1.94 × 105 cm Hz1/2 W−1 at 300 K to 5.11 × 1010 cm Hz1/2 W−1 at 150 K, which is mainly due to a remarkable reduction in the leakage current at low temperatures. It was experimentally demonstrated that nitrogen-doped UNCD/a-C:H film works as ultraviolet-range photovoltaic material.
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Acknowledgements
This work was partially supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS KAKENHI Grant No. 15H04127). The experimental work using synchrotron radiation was performed at SAGA-LS with the approval of the Kyushu Synchrotron Light Research Center (Proposal No. 1204044S/BL12 and BL15). Authors would like to express their deep gratitude to Dr. M. Shaban for fruitful discussions. The first author Abdelrahman Zkria appreciates the financial support from Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE).
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Zkria, A., Gima, H. & Yoshitake, T. Application of nitrogen-doped ultrananocrystalline diamond/hydrogenated amorphous carbon composite films for ultraviolet detection. Appl. Phys. A 123, 167 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-017-0798-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-017-0798-4