Self-powered ultraviolet photodetection realized by GaN/Si nanoheterostructure based on silicon nanoporous pillar array

Using silicon nanoporous pillar array (Si-NPA) as substrate, a kind of GaN/Si nanoheterostructure (GaN/Si-NPA) is prepared by depositing GaN nanocrystallites on Si-NPA with chemical vapor deposition method. The morphology characteristics and optical properties of GaN/Si-NPA are investigated systematically. Based on GaN/Si-NPA, a self-powered ultraviolet (UV) photodetector (PD) with device structure of ITO/GaN/Si-NPA/sc-Si/Ag is constructed by depositing ITO on GaN layer and silver on single crystal silicon, respectively. At zero bias voltage without an external power supply, GaN/Si-NPA exhibits a responsivity of 0.072 mA/W, a high current on/off ratio of ∼104 (16 μW/cm2) and fast response speeds of 39.98/40.10 ms under an UV light irradiation at 305 nm. The high performance of GaN/Si-NPA is attributed to the built-in electric field in the heterojunction, which is interpreted via building the energy-band diagrams. The results illustrate that GaN/Si-NPA might be a suitable material system for self-powered UV PDs. [Display omitted] •A self-powered UV detector based on GaN/Si heterostructure is prepared.•Si nanoporous pillar array plays a key role in preparing the heterostructure.•The UV detector shows a high on/off ratio and a fast response speed.