Structural, optical, electrical and morphological study of transparent p-NiO/n-ZnO heterojunctions grown by PLD

NiO/ZnO heterostructures were fabricated on FTO/glass and bulk hydrothermal ZnO substrates by pulsed laser deposition. X-Ray diffraction and Room Temperature (RT) Raman studies were consistent with the formation of (0002) oriented wurtzite ZnO and (111) oriented fcc NiO. RT optical transmission studies revealed bandgap energy values of ~3.70 eV and ~3.30 eV for NiO and ZnO, respectively and more than 80% transmission for the whole ZnO/NiO/FTO/glass stack over the majority of the visible spectrum. Lateral p-n heterojunction mesas (~6mm x 6mm) were fabricated using a shadow mask during PLD growth. n-n and p-p measurements showed that Ti/Au contacting gave an Ohmic reponse for the NiO, ZnO and FTO. Both heterojunctions had rectifying I/V characteristics. The junction on FTO/glass gave forward bias currents (243mA at +10V) that were over 5 orders of magnitude higher than those for the junction formed on bulk ZnO. At ~ 10-7 A (for 10V of reverse bias) the heterojunction leakage current was approximately two orders of magnitude lower on the bulk ZnO substrate than on FTO. Overall, the lateral p-NiO/n- ZnO/FTO/glass device proved far superior to that formed by growing p-NiO directly on the bulk n-ZnO substrate and gave a combination of electrical performance and visible wavelength transparency that could predispose it for use in various third generation transparent electronics applications.