Investigations on the current conduction mechanism in PVA-CdWO₄ films and the temperature-dependent electrical characteristics of Cu/(PVA-CdWO₄)/p-Si metal–polymer–semiconductor diodes

Abstract This work focuses on the preparation of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nano-CdWO 4 composite films, studying their employability as an interfacial insulating layer for the fabrication of metal–polymer–semiconductor structured Cu/(PVA-CdWO 4 )/p-Si Schottky barrier diodes. A wet chemical method is used for the synthesis of CdWO 4 nanoparticles, and a spin-coating technique is used for the coating of nanocomposite films over silicon wafers. The current conduction mechanism, studied by varying the temperature and voltage in the PVA-CdWO 4 films, reveals the involvement of more than one current conduction mechanism. The effect of the polymer layer on the current–voltage characteristics and the performance of the fabricated diode with temperature is discussed.