Current Rectification in a Single Silicon Nanowire p–n Junction

Abstract

Diodes within individual silicon nanowires were fabricated by doping them during growth to produce p-n junctions. Electron beam lithography was then employed to contact p- and n-doped ends of these nanowires. The current-voltage (I-V) measurements showed diode-like characteristics with a typical threshold voltage (Vt) of about 1 V and an ideality factor (n) of about 3.6 in the quasi-neutral region. The reverse bias I-V measurement showed an exponential behavior, indicating tunneling as the current leakage mechanism.

Diode Junctions in Single ZnO Nanowires as Half-Wave Rectifiers

“…The interface between two nanomaterials can somewhat be straightened by introducing a dopant in a section of a nanowire . Such nanowires with a p - and an n -section, that is, a pn -junction in a nanowire, have yielded current rectification resulting in nanowire diodes or nanodiodes. − …”

“…23 Such nanowires with a p-and an n-section, that is, a pn-junction in a nanowire, have yielded current rectification resulting in nanowire diodes or nanodiodes. [24][25][26] Responses of a diode under ac voltage can be of interest in designing a half-wave or a full-wave rectifier. From the frequency response, the rate-limiting process of a rectifier can be determined that needs to be understood for inclusion in a circuitry.…”

Axial p–n Nanowire Gated Diodes as a Direct Probe of Surface-Dominated Charge Dynamics in Semiconductor Nanomaterials

“…To date, most of the p–n junctions in the various NWs synthesized by the bottom-up approach, including Si, Ge, ZnO, and GaN, showed abnormally large ideality factors ranging from 2 to 8. − The ideality factor of our p–n junction is the smallest among them, but ideality factors larger than 2 are difficult to explain by the standard Schokley–Read–Hall (SRH) recombination theory . Because the presence of a nonlinear metal–semiconductor contact is believed to be the major source of these values, − we extracted the net bias across the p–n junction using the metal–semiconductor-metal model in order to completely exclude the metal–Si Schottky contact effect (Figure S2 in the Supporting Information). Nevertheless, the ideality factors of nearly 2 were still obtained (the third column of Table ).…”

Toward a Single ZnO Nanowire Homojunction

“…The fabrication of single NW p−n junctions has aroused intense recent interest because these could be integrated into electronics as NW diodes (nanodiodes) and/or find application in a range of nanodevices. Single NW p−n junctions of Si, GaN, and InP have been reported, − but reports of successful fabrication of p−n junctions inside or between individual ZnO NWs are rare . Progress has been hampered by the scarcity of high-quality, reproducible p-type ZnO nanomaterials.…”