Enhancing ultraviolet photoresponsivity of an oversized Sn-doped ZnO microwire based photodetector

Hybrid metal oxide nano/microstructures exhibit excellent electrical and optical properties, which make them promising candidates for a wide range of applications including photodetection. In this paper, an oversized Sn-doped ZnO (SZO) microwire was synthesized by one step CVD process and ultraviolet (UV) photodetection properties of this MW was studied. The morphological, structural, optical and compositional properties of synthesized MWs were characterized using several techniques. A photodetector was fabricated by depositing interdigital Au electrodes on an oversized SZO. The study of photodetection properties revealed improved performance of SZO MWs compared to undoped ZnO MWs. For SZO MWs, an enhancement in UV photodetection responsivity (1100 A/W) was found nearly 100 times greater than that of undoped ZnO MWs (11.38 A/W). Moreover, the response wavelength was blue shifted as compared to undoped ZnO MWs. All these results indicated that SZO MWs have high potential for UV photodetection applications.