Improvement of optoelectronic properties of in doped CeO2 thin films for photodiode applications

Here, using a single-phase crystalline material, we created extremely sensitive P-N junction diodes with positive photo-response. With 0, 2, 4, and 6 wt% of In and an ideal substrate temperature of 450C, In:Ce doped thin films were effectively produced on a quartz substrate using the JNSP approach. The mean crystallite size of the films was found to decrease and their associated lattice parameters improved within In concentration. Single-phase crystalline In:Ce films with mono-phase of cubic crystal structure were detected in XRD analysis. Through FE-SEM images small spherical-like surface morphology was seen to be randomly distributed. When In atoms were added to the Ce matrix, it improved optical absorption and reduced Eg values, which was investigated using the UV-Vis spectrum. When there is a larger concentration of In, the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics show the highest dc with low Ea values. For p-Si/n-In:Ce type diodes, it was discovered that their corresponding ideality factor (n) decreased as the light intensity of the diodes increased to 120 mW/cm2. Significant photodiode metrics including PS, R, QE (percent), and D* increased with In, and in particular the P-N diode manufactured with its 6 wt% exhibited superior results in which a remarkable responsivity of 584.87 mA/cm2 was measured, also contributed to the improved performance.