Room temperature deposition of amorphous p-type CuFeO$_2$ and fabrication of CuFeO$_2$/n-Si heterojunction by RF sputtering method

摘要

Transparent conducting amorphous p-type CuFeO$_2$ (CFO) thin film was prepared by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering method at room temperature using polycrystalline CuFeO$_2$ target. Amorphous structureof as-deposited film was confirmed by XRD. XPS analysis convinced that the chemical state of Cu$^{+}$ and Fe$^{3+}$ in the film, and the chemical composition of the thin films is close to the stoichiometry of CuFeO$^2$. Surface morphology of the film was analysed by SEM studies. p-type nature and concentration of carriers was investigated by Hall effect measurement. The pa€“n heterojunction in the structure of Al/n-Si/p-CuFeO$_2$/Al showed good rectifying behaviour with a forward and reverse currents ratio of 555 at 2 V. The turn-on voltage and reverse leakage current values were found to be 0.9 V and 4 $mu$A at $a?’$2 V. Further, the conduction mechanism of forward bias voltage was controlled by thermionic emission (TE) and trap-space charge limited current (TCLC) mechanisms.