Single crystalline quasi aligned one dimensional P-type Cu2O nanowire for improving Schottky barrier characteristics

Schottky diodes usually exhibit non-ideal characteristics. The departure from an ideal junction may result from a thick interfacial layer between the semiconductor and metal, or the presence of series resistance from the bulk semiconductor below the depletion region and back side Ohmic contact resistance. In the present work an attempt was made to avoid most of these factors in order to obtain Schottky diode with better characteristics. For such purpose, single crystalline vertically aligned P-type Cu2O nanowires are deposited on a silicon substrate using solid-vapor technique, without using a catalyst or pre-deposited buffer layers. The structure and morphology of the as-synthesized nanowires are characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the use of CuCl2 is critical for the formation of Cu2O nanowires. The (I-V) and (C-V) characteristic curves of Au/p-Cu2O Schottky diode were measured. The results showed that the ideality factor, barrier height and donor state density states equal 1.05. 1.32 eV and 3.65 x 10(18) cm(-3), respectively. 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.