Fabrication of a Photodetector Based on the Enhancement of Ce-Doped ZnO Thin Films Using Pulsed Laser Deposition

Pristine and cerium-doped ZnO (ZnO:Ce) thin films were fabricated on Si (100) substrates using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method. XRD analysis confirmed the incorporation of Ce ions into the ZnO crystal structure, with additional peaks observed in the ZnO:Ce films. Photoluminescence results revealed a slight redshift in annealed ZnO and ZnO:Ce (5 wt.%) thin films, consistent with Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) findings of Ce incorporation. Current-voltage (I-V) analysis demonstrated that ZnO:Ce device exhibited the highest photocurrent-to-dark current ratio (I<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ph</inf>/I<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">dark</inf>) at a bias of 2 V, surpassing the performance of pristine ZnO devices. These results highlight the potential of Ce doping to enhance the performance of ZnO devices for photodetector and light sensor applications.