https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-025-01488-0
Regular Article
AlGaN-based self-powered solar-blind UV photodetectors with Ni/Au electrodes
1
School of Integrated Circuits, South China University of Technology, 511442, Guangzhou, China
2
School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, 510640, Guangzhou, China
a
zhoucj@scut.edu.cn
b
wenliangwang@scut.edu.cn
Received:
2
December
2024
Accepted:
24
January
2025
Published online:
10
February
2025
AlGaN has been considered as a promising candidate for future self-powered solar-blind ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors (PDs) due to the natural wide bandgap and environment endurance. A simple and effective method of annealing treatment is proposed to generate stable and excellent self-powered characteristics. To insight and utilize the auspicious material properties and fabricate high-performance AlGaN-based self-powered solar-blind UV PDs, the microstructure, optoelectronic properties, and electrode contact on the AlGaN with high Al content are investigated. From microscopic morphology observation, the AlGaN exhibits island-like topography with microparticles attached on the surface with the surface roughness of 1.4 nm. Moreover, the values of full width at half maximum (FWHM) of X-ray rocking curve (XRC) for AlGaN(0002) and AlGaN(10–12) are 342 and 522 arcsec, respectively, revealing the dislocation density of approximately 108 cm−2. Based on the results, the self-powered solar-blind PDs have been fabricated with Ni/Au electrodes after annealing for 5 min. Moreover, the photocurrent is enhanced five times compared with that of the device before annealing at 0 V bias @ 254 nm. The work paves the novel way for strengthening the performance of AlGaN-based self-powered solar-blind UV PDs.
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Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
