Inspection and Comparative Analysis of Light and Thermal Response Dynamics of Cu/V₂O₅/n-Si and Cu/La-V₂O₅/n-Si MIS Diodes

Schottky Barrier Diodes (SBDs) are pivotal in modern electronics for their quick switching and low forward voltage drop, enabled by metal-semiconductor junctions. SBDs are renowned for their performance, primarily due to their metal-semiconductor intersection. This study focuses on Cu/V₂O₅/n-Si and Cu/La-V₂O₅/n-Si SBDs, examining the impact of lanthanum doping on their performance. Transition metal oxides (TMOs) like vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) offer unique electronic, magnetic, and optical properties, making them ideal for various applications. The fabrication process involved sol-gel spin coating and DC magnetron sputtering to create a thin V₂O₅ layer on n-type silicon wafers, followed by copper contact deposition. Galvanizing temperatures ranged 300° Celsius to 500° Celsius to study the structural, optical, and morphological changes in V₂O₅ thin films. Key findings include the significant reduction in ideality factor (n) with increasing annealing temperatures for Cu/V₂O₅/n-Si SBDs, reaching as low as 5.26 at 500°C, indicating improved performance. For Cu/La-V₂O₅/n-Si SBDs, the ideality factor consistently decreased with higher light intensities, showcasing enhanced performance due to La doping. Barrier height (ɸ_B) also varied, with higher values observed for La-doped V₂O₅, enhancing charge recombination and increasing oxygen vacancies. Photodiode parameters were significantly enhanced by doping of the La. The Cu/La- V₂O₅/n-Si SBDs demonstrated high photosensitivity (up to 3327.5%), photo responsivity (up to 33.39 mA/W) and detectivity (9.82 × 10¹⁰ Jones), making them highly efficient for photodetection applications. Overall, this study highlights the potential of Cu/La- V₂O₅/n-Si SBDs for high-efficiency, optoelectronic applications, with optimized doping concentrations and annealing conditions significantly improving their performance.