High photoresponse sensitivity of lithium-doped ZnO (LZO) thin films for weak ultraviolet signal photodetector

Abstract Usually, ZnO thin films used in ultraviolet photodetector exhibit good photoresponse property when ultraviolet signal is strong enough. However, due to the high dark current, pure ZnO is insusceptible to weak ultraviolet signal. To address this problem, lithium-doped ZnO (LZO) thin films were prepared using the sol-gel method in this study. Results revealed that the LZO thin film doped with low concentration (2 at.%) had a dark current about 10 times lower than the pure ZnO. In addition, the ultraviolet with a low irradiance of 90 μW/cm2 was used. According to the results of the investigations on the external quantum efficiency and responsivity, the inherent photocurrent generation ability of ZnO was not deteriorated through low concentration lithium doping. LZO thin film doped with 2 at.% exhibited a high sensitivity to weak ultraviolet signal --- the signal-to-noise ratio was enhanced by approximately 10 times compared with that of pure ZnO. This study indicates that LZO thin films with low doping concentration are promising application on weak ultraviolet signal photodetector.