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 (R-s), ideality factor (n), barrier height (Phi(B)) and doping concentration atoms (N-A) 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.