Investigation of illumination-dependent electrical and photodiode properties and conduction mechanism of the Al/p-Si contact with Schiff base compound (Pyr-Pic) interlayer

In this paper, an organic semiconductor, N-(2-((pyren-4-yl)methyleneamino)ethyl)-5- nitropyridin-2-amine (Pyr-Pic), was synthesized and was used as an interfacial organic layer to fabrication of Al/Pyr-Pic/p-Si/Al diode. The device's characteristic parameters were determined under various operating situations using current-voltage (I-V) measurements. Thermionic emission theory (TE), the Cheung methodology, and Norde functions were the three methods used to determine the device's electrical properties, such as the ideality factor, barrier height, and series resistance. Based on the I-V measurements conducted under illumination circumstances, the fabricated device exhibits photoresponse properties in the reverse bias region. An examination of the forward log(I)-log(V) plot of the Al/Pyr-Pic/p-Si diode indicated that ohmic conduction dominates carrier transport in the lower bias regions, while the space-charge-limited current (SCLC) governs transport in the medium bias regions, and the trap-charge limit current (TCLC) mechanism is responsible for transport in the higher bias regions. The current voltage mechanisms in the reverse bias area can be characterized by using Poole-Frenkel emission (PFE) and Schottky emission (SE) theories. The device exhibits photovoltaic characteristics when it is illuminated through an Al electrode. The typical photovoltaic parameters were estimated at room temperature and under illumination conditions.