Ultraviolet electroluminescence from n-ZnO/p-NiO heterojunction light-emitting diode

The n-ZnO/p-NiO heterojunction was prepared by depositing a p-type NiO film on a c-plane sapphire by rf magnetron sputtering and then growing a n-type ZnO film on the NiO film by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The heterojunction shows a diode-like rectification characteristic with a turn-on voltage of ∼3.6 V and emits UV light upon putting a forward bias. The intensity of the UV emission increases as injection current increases from 0.5 to 3.5 mA, but the wavelength of the UV emission decreases from 404 to 387 nm. It is demonstrated that the UV emission comes from near band-edge radiative recombination of electron and hole in the ZnO layer. The mechanism of the UV electroluminescence is discussed in the present work. - Highlights: ► The n-ZnO/p-NiO heterojunction was prepared by rf magnetron sputtering. ► The heterojunction shows a diode-like rectification characteristic with a turn-on voltage of ∼3.6 V. ► The heterojunction realizes UV EL emission with wavelength of 387 nm at the injection current of 3.5 mA.