Deep ultraviolet and near infrared photodiode based on n-ZnO/p-silicon nanowire heterojunction fabricated at low temperature

n-ZnO/p-silicon nanowire (SiNW) photodiodes were prepared by radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering of n-type zinc oxide at room temperature on photoresist filled p-SiNWs, which were fabricated by electroless metal deposition method at 323 K. Our n-ZnO/p-SiNW photodiodes showed good temperature- and light-intensity dependence. They exhibited strong responsivities of 19.2 and 2.5 A/W for 254 and 1000 nm photons, respectively, under a reverse bias of 2 V with a strong peak of responsivity near 390 nm, the wavelength corresponding to the band gap of ZnO. These results present potential applications of n-ZnO/p-SiNW photodetectors in deep ultraviolet and near infrared regions.