Optical and structural properties of CuO nanofilm: Its diode application

The high crystalline CuO nanofilms have been prepared by spin coating and annealing combined with a simple chemical method. The obtained films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet–vis (UV–vis) spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Structural analysis results demonstrate that the single phase CuO on Si (1 0 0) substrate is of high a crystalline structure with a dominant in monoclinic (1 1 1) orientation. FT-IR results confirm the formation of pure CuO phase. UV–vis absorption measurements indicate that the band gap of the CuO films is 2.64 eV. The PL spectrum of the CuO films shows a broad emission band centered at 467 nm, which is consistent with absorption measurement. Also, Au/CuO/p-Si metal/interlayer/semiconductor (MIS) diodes have been fabricated. Electronic properties (current–voltage) of these structures were investigated. In addition, the interfacial state properties of the MIS diode were obtained. The interface-state density of the MIS diode was found to vary from 6.21 × 1012 to 1.62 × 1012 eV−1 cm−2.