Fabrication and characterization of metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) ultraviolet photodetectors on undoped GaN/sapphire grown by MBE

Abstract

Interdigital metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) ultraviolet photoconductive detectors have been fabricated on undoped GaN films grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Response dependence on wavelength, applied current, excitation powers and chopper frequency has been extensively investigated. It is shown that the photodetector's spectral response remained nearly constant for wavelengths above the band gap and dropped sharply by almost three orders of magnitude for wavelengths longer than the band gap. It increases linearly with the applied constant current, but very nonlinearly with illuminating power. The photodetectors showed high photoconductor gains resulting from trapping of minority carriers (holes) at acceptor impurities or defects. The results demonstrated the high quality of the GaN crystal used to fabricate these devices.