Electroluminescence of ZnO nanorods/ZnMgO films/p-SiC structure heterojunction LED

•ZnMgO films were grown on SiC substrate by sol–gel.•ZnMgO films between n-ZnO nanorods and p-SiC works as barrier layer which controls the movement of holes and electrons.•Using ZnMgO films, electroluminescence from ZnO nanorods could be obtained.

Through a facile low-temperature hydrothermal process, ZnO nanorod arrays were grown on ZnMgO films/p-SiC to form a heterojunction LED. ZnMgO films were grown on p-SiC by a simple sol–gel method. In this heterojunction structure, ZnMgO films works as the seeds film for the growth of ZnO nanorods. In particular, ZnMgO films can work as barrier layer between n-ZnO nanorods and p-SiC, which controls the movement of holes and electrons. Thus, with this introduced ZnMgO films, the electroluminescence (EL) from ZnO can be observed in ZnO/SiC heterojunction. Under a forward bias larger than 18 V, the emission band in electroluminescence (EL) spectrum is considered as a combination of a peak centered at 388 nm and a yellow band emission peak around 450 nm. As the injection current increased, the intensity of ultraviolet emission was also increased. At last, the function of ZnMgO films in the heterojunction structure was discussed.