Fabrication and electroluminescence of sheet-like ZnO/Si light-emitting diodes by radio frequency magnetron sputtering method

• Published in: Materials letters 2020-03, Vol.262, p.127028, Article 127028
• Main Authors: Ji, Peng Fei, Li, Yong, Zhou, Feng Qun, Song, Yu Li, Huang, Hong Chun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Crystal growth; Diffraction; Electroluminescence; Emission; Luminescence; Magnetron sputtering; Materials science; Organic light emitting diodes; Orientation growth; Photovoltaic cells; Radio frequency; Silicon; Single crystals; Zinc oxide; ZnO/Si LED
• ISSN: 0167-577X; 1873-4979
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2019.127028

•Sheet-like ZnO/Si LED have been fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering method.•Structures and EL spectra from ZnO/Si are sensitive to the fabrication conditions.•Emission bands from EL spectra have been studied with the sputtering time and power. Sheet-like ZnO/Si light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been fabricated through depositing nanoscale ZnO on the p-type single crystal silicon by using a radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering method. From XRD patterns, the (1 0 0), (0 0 2) and (1 0 1) diffraction peaks can be observed. Through increasing the sputtering time, however, the intensity of (1 0 0) and (1 0 1) diffraction peaks has gradually decreased and the intensity of (0 0 2) diffraction peak has gradually enhanced. With decreasing the sputtering powers, the fabricated ZnO films have been observed to show better (0 0 2)-orientation growth. Electroluminescence (EL) from ZnO/Si LEDs have been decomposed into three emission bands, i.e., UV, green and orange emissions, which origin from the band gap, zinc interstitial or vacancies oxygen and shallow level, respectively. Under the lower sputtering power, orange emission is disappeared. It is indicated that the structures and EL properties are sensitive to the fabrication conditions. It is important to optimize and tune the fabrication conditions for purposeful applications in the future works.