Fabrication and characterization of p-type SiNW/n-type ZnO heterostructure for optoelectronics application

Abstract

Semiconductor hybrid structure, known as core-shell heterostructures was fabricated and optical properties were analyzed to make it applicable in future optoelectronic and photonic devices. Large-area, high density, vertically oriented silicon nanowire arrays, synthesized by means of metal-assisted chemical etching of p-type silicon (100) substrate was used as the core and zinc oxide (ZnO) layer, deposited on the SiNW arrays by atomic layer deposition (ALD) was used as shell. The XRD peaks of the heterostructure confirmed the subsequent growth of ZnO film on the template of SiNW arrays having similar crystalline quality. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra showed a very sharp peak at 378 nm, corresponding to the band gap of ZnO material and another broad emission band almost throughout the entire visible range with a peak around 550 nm. The structure also showed a very good antireflection property. The results present that the SiNW/ZnO heterostructure can have potential application in future nanoscale electronic and photonic devices.