Abstract
Heterojunction of n-ZnIn2Se4/p-Si was fabricated using thermal evaporation of ZnIn2Se4 thin films of thickness 473 nm onto p-Si substrate at room temperature. The characteristics of current–voltage (I-V) for n-ZnIn2Se4/p-Si heterojunction were investigated at different temperatures ranged from 308 K to 363 K. The junction parameters namely are; rectification ratio (RR), series resistance (Rs), shunt resistance (Rsh) and diode ideality factor (n) were calculated from the analysis of I-V curves. The forward current showed two conduction mechanisms operating, which were the thermionic emission and the single trap space charge limited current in low (0 ≤ V ≤ 0.5 V) and high (V ≥ 0.7 V) ranges of voltage, respectively. The reverse current was due to the generation through Si rather than the ZnIn2Se4 film. The built-in voltage and the width of the depletion region were determined from the capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. The photovoltaic characteristics of the junction were also studied through the (I-V) measurements under illumination of 40 mW/cm2. The cell parameters; the short-circuit current, the open-circuit voltage and the fill factor were estimated at room temperature.
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•n-ZnIn2Se4/p-Si heterojunction has a rectification ratio of 26.74 at room temperature.•Analysis of the I–V in the forward bias voltage suggests two dominant mechanisms.•The calculated barrier height φ of n-ZnIn2Se4/p-Si heterojunction was 0.3 eV.•The n-ZnIn2Se4/p-Si heterojunction was abrupt junction with built-in voltage of 0.182 V.•The device exhibited a photovoltaic behavior with fill factor of 0.33.