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Fabrication and characterization of CuO/CdS heterostructure for optoelectronic applications

  • Original Paper: Devices based on sol-gel or hybrid materials
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Abstract

This paper reports the fabrication of a CuO/CdS heterostructure and the characterization of its properties for optical sensing. Cadmium sulfide (CdS) and cupric oxide (CuO) films were deposited by spray pyrolysis and hydrothermal techniques in order to fabricate CuO/CdS heterojunction devices. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of the CuO and CdS thin films were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and UV–vis spectroscopy. The concentration of the sulfur precursor, thiourea, was varied over a range from 0.01 to 0.06 M in the spray coating solution for CdS films, and 0.05 M was found to yield improved structural and optical properties. The prepared p-CuO/n-CdS heterojunction exhibited good optical sensing properties with excellent response and recovery speeds. A possible photosensing mechanism for the fabricated heterostructure is detailed using energy band diagrams. In addition, heterojunction properties, including the ideality factor and conduction mechanism are reported: a fabricated heterostructure diode showed a threshold voltage of 0.036 V and an ideality factor of 1.86.

Highlights

  • p-CuO/n-CdS heterojunction photodiode is fabricated using hydrothermal and spray pyrolysis methods.

  • Sulphur concentration of 0.05 M shows excellent structural and optical properties of CdS film.

  • Fabricated heterojunction ideality factor is 1.86 and I-V nature indicated formation of diode.

  • The photodiode showed fast recovery and response times for visible light sensing.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Mid-career Researcher Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (No. 2019R1A2C2086747).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Millimeter-Wave Innovation Technology Research Center (MINT), Dongguk University-Seoul, Seoul, 04620, Republic of Korea

    A. Kathalingam

  2. Department of Physics, Periyar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology, Valam, Thanjavur, 613 403, India

    K. Kesavan & V. Mary Pradeepa

  3. Division of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Dongguk University-Seoul, Seoul, 04620, Republic of Korea

    Hyun-Seok Kim

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Kathalingam, A., Kesavan, K., Mary Pradeepa, V. et al. Fabrication and characterization of CuO/CdS heterostructure for optoelectronic applications. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 96, 178–187 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-020-05391-z

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