Direct electron injection into an oxide insulator using a cathode buffer layer

作者：Lee Eungkyu; Lee Jinwon; Kim Ji Hoon; Lim Keon Hee; Byun Jun Seok; Ko Jieun; Kim Young Dong; Park Yongsup; Kim Youn Sang^*

来源：Nature Communications, 2015, 6(1): 6785.

DOI：10.1038/ncomms7785

Injecting charge carriers into the mobile bands of an inorganic oxide insulator (for example, SiO2, HfO2) is a highly complicated task, or even impossible without external energy sources such as photons. This is because oxide insulators exhibit very low electron affinity and high ionization energy levels. Here we show that a ZnO layer acting as a cathode buffer layer permits direct electron injection into the conduction bands of various oxide insulators (for example, SiO2, Ta2O5, HfO2, Al2O3) from a metal cathode. Studies of current-voltage characteristics reveal that the current ohmically passes through the ZnO/oxide-insulator interface. Our findings suggests that the oxide insulators could be used for simply fabricated, transparent and highly stable electronic valves. With this strategy, we demonstrate an electrostatic discharging diode that uses 100-nm SiO2 as an active layer exhibiting an on/off ratio of similar to 10(7), and protects the ZnO thin-film transistors from high electrical stresses.

• 出版日期2015-4