Electron Depleted ZnO Nanowalls-Based Broadband Photodetector

Abstract

Pristine ZnO has been extensively reported for high responsivity UV photodetectors based applications. However, in general, its photo-response in visible and NIR region is very poor. In this article, a simple and cost-effective technique of synthesizing pristine ZnO honeycomb nanostructure based high responsivity broadband (200 nm-950 nm) photodetector is demonstrated. The dark current of the device was found to be as low as 5.6 pA at 10 V applied bias. The maximum photo-current to dark current ratio was ∼ 3.2 × 107 at 300 nm wavelength (measured at-10 V applied bias). The calculated linear dynamic range of the device is as high as 128.9 dB. The maximum specific photodetectivity, photoresponsivity and external quantum efficiency (@ 300 nm) calculated at-10 V bias was 2.07 × 1015 cm Hz1/2W-1, 115 A W-1 and 47,583% respectively, which is comparable to some of the existing commercial broadband photodetectors. © 1989-2012 IEEE.