Highly sensitive, ultra-low dark current, self-powered solar-blind ultraviolet photodetector based on ZnO thin-film with an engineered rear metallic layer

In this paper, novel self-powered, solar-blind UV photodetector (PD) designs based on a ZnO thin-film with engineered back metal layer (BML) were fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering and e-beam evaporation techniques. An exhaustive study concerning the impact of dissimilar BML (Au and Ni) on the device structural, optical and electrical properties was carried out. The measured I–V curves illustrated an asymmetrical behavior, enabling a clear...