Observation of a photoinduced, resonant tunneling effect in a carbon nanotube-silicon heterojunction

Reduced graphene oxide on silicon-based structure as novel broadband photodetector

Heterojunction photodetector based on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has been realized using a spin coating technique. The electrical and optical characterization of bare GO and thermally reduced GO thin films deposited on glass substrate has been carried out. Ultraviolet-visible-infrared transmittance measurements of the GO and rGO thin films revealed broad absorption range, while the absorbance analysis evaluates rGO band gap of about 2.8 eV. The effect of GO reduction process on the photoresponse capability is reported. The current-voltage characteristics and the responsivity of rGO/n-Si based device have been investigated using laser diode wavelengths from UV up to IR spectral range. An energy band diagram of the heterojunction has been proposed to explain the current versus voltage characteristics. The device demonstrates a photoresponse at a broad spectral range with a maximum responsivity and detectivity of 0.20 A/W and 7 × 1010 cmHz/W, respectively. Notably, the obtained results indicate that the rGO based device can be useful for broadband radiation detection compatible with silicon device technology.

Electrical Transport Properties of Carbon Nanotube Metal-Semiconductor Heterojunction

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been proved to have promising applicability in various fields of science and technology. Their fascinating mechanical, electrical, thermal, optical properties have caught the attention of today’s world. We have discussed here the great possibility of using CNTs in electronic devices. CNTs can be both metallic and semiconducting depending on their chirality. When two CNTs of different chirality are joined together via topological defects, they may acquire rectifying diode property. We have joined two tubes of different chiralities through circumferential Stone–Wales defects and calculated their density of states by nearest neighbor tight binding approximation. Transmission function is also calculated to analyze whether the junctions can be used as electronic devices. Different heterojunctions are modeled and analyzed in this study. Internal stresses in the heterojunctions are also calculated by molecular dynamics simulation.