Fabrications of Fully Transparent Gallium Oxide Solar-Blind Photodetectors

This article presents a remarkable achievement: a gallium oxide-based, non-metallic, fully transparent, and self-powered solar-blind ultraviolet photodetector. We have replaced the traditional metal electrode with gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO), a transparent conductive oxide, for this transparent purpose. Gallium oxide, a wide-bandgap material suitable for solar-blind detection, is used as the active layer. Glass and natural mica are used for the transparent substrate. The gallium oxide thin film is deposited by RF sputtering at room temperature, with polycrystalline orientation, and the top integrated GZO electrode is also prepared at room temperature using the same technique. This simple two-layer structure device maintains a transmittance of over 88% in the visible spectrum for both substrates, a truly impressive performance. Both glass and mica substrates exhibit self-powered photoresponsivity at 265 nm with responsivities of 8.8 × 10^-9 and 4.4 × 10^-7 (A/W), operating with an externally applied voltage of 1 V and boasting a responsivity of around two orders of magnitude with rise/fall times less than 10 s. An X-ray diffractometer, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, semiconductor analysis, and a semiconductor electron microscope are used for material analysis and device performance. This article presents a transparent gallium oxide solar-blind photodetector with a simple structure. Our research explains the exceptional transmittance of non-metal electrodes with gallium oxide solar-blind photodetectors, setting a new standard in the field.