Transport characteristics of n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunction as determined from temperature dependent current–voltage measurements

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods have been synthesized by a two-step chemical bath deposition process on silicon substrates having different dopant densities and orientations. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis reveal that the orientation of the Si substrate does not affect the orientation, distribution or crystallinity of the nanostructures. The electrical properties of the ZnO/Si heterojunction are also investigated by current–voltage (I–V) measurements. The ideality factor is found to be 2.6 at 295 K, indicating that complex current transport mechanisms are at play. Temperature dependent I–V characteristics have been used to determine the dominant transport mechanism. The experimental results suggest that in the low bias region the current is dominated by a trap assisted multi-step tunneling process.