Hybrid AlN–SiC deep ultraviolet Schottky barrier photodetectors

Deep ultraviolet (DUV) Schottky barrier photodetectors have been demonstrated by exploiting the epitaxial growth of high quality AlN epilayer on n-type SiC substrate. The fabricated AlN∕n-SiC hybrid Schottky barrier detectors exhibited a peak responsivity at 200nm with very sharp cutoff wavelength at 210nm, very high reverse breakdown voltages (>200V), very low dark currents (about 10fA at a reverse bias of 50V), and high responsivity and DUV to UV/visible rejection ratio. These outstanding features are direct attributes of the fundamental material properties and high quality of AlN epilayers. The fabricated photodetectors also have a thermal energy limited detectivity at zero bias of about 1.0×1015cmHz1∕2W−1. These results demonstrated that AlN epilayers are an excellent candidate as an active material for DUV optoelectronic device applications.