Low-Temperature, Ion Beam-Assisted SiC Thin Films With Antireflective ZnO Nanorod Arrays for High-Temperature Photodetection

This work demonstrates high-temperature operation of metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors (MSM PDs) using low-temperature, ion beam-assisted deposition of nanocrystalline SiC thin films and hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO nanorod arrays (NRAs). Due to the incorporation of ZnO NRAs, the photo-to-dark current ratio of SiC MSM PDs is increased from 4.9 to 13.3 at 25 degrees C and from 4.9 to 7.6 at 200 degrees C. The enhancement in the sensitivity suggests that the ZnO NRAs could serve as an effective antireflective layer to guide more light into the SiC MSM PDs. This was confirmed through the characterization of reflectance measurements and finite-difference time-domain analysis. These results support the integration of nanocrystalline SiC thin films and ZnO NRAs for use in high-temperature photodetection applications.