Manufacturing and electrical characterization of Al-doped ZnO-coated silicon nanowires

The p-type Si nanowires were synthesized via deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). Al-doped ZnO films were coated on a p-Si nanowires substrate using the sol-gel method. Al-doped ZnO/p-Si NWs were characterized using current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements in the dark and under illumination at room temperature. Electrical parameters such as series resistance (Rs), ideality factor (n), barrier height (ΦB) and doping concentration atoms (NA) were investigated using the electrical measurements values at room temperature. Overall, I-V and C-V plots of the NWs were close to what was predicted and had excellent performance. The fabricated Al-doped ZnO/p-Si nanowires are more sensitive to light and frequency, so they are a promising candidate to be used as photovoltaic devices and photo-capacitors.