Electrical and optical properties of Schottky diodes fabricated by electrodeposition of Ni films on n-GaAs

In this paper, we report electrical and optical characteristics of the Schottky diodes fabricated by electrodeposition of nickel onto n-GaAs substrate from 0.125 M NiSO4 + 0.25 M H3BO3 + 0.25 M Na2SO4 solution. The electrodeposition was performed at room temperature and at − 1.5 V vs. SCE. Electrical and optical properties were measured in the temperature range of 200–360 K. Dark and light current-voltage (I-V) characteristics were investigated. Ideality factor, n and zero-bias barrier height, ϕb were calculated and found to be almost constant in this temperature range. For room temperature, these values were obtained as 1.05 and 0.70 eV, respectively. Illuminated I-V characteristics were also investigated and they showed that the fabricated device could operate in photovoltaic regime. Open-circuit voltage, Voc was found to be 0.24 V for the diode under 20 mW/cm2 illumination. [Display omitted] •Good light sensitivity is achieved by electrodeposition.•Room temperature n and ϕb values are 1.05 and 0.70 eV, respectively.•Electrodeposited Ni/n-GaAs Schottky diode can operate in photovoltaic regime.