Photoelectric detector based on magnesium nitride film and preparation method thereof
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the field of semiconductor photoelectric detectors, and particularly relates to a photoelectric detector based on a magnesium nitride film and a preparation method thereof.
Background
A photodetector is a device that converts an optical signal into an electrical signal using the photoelectric effect of a substance. The photoelectric detector has wide application in various fields of military and national economy, such as ray measurement and detection, industrial automatic control, photometric measurement, regional environment monitoring and the like, so the photoelectric detector is especially important for the research of the photoelectric detector.
Magnesium nitride (Mg)3N2) Is typically a metal nitride and has many industrial applications, for example, it can be used inThe catalyst is used for preparing various ceramic materials, is a common catalyst material for preparing cubic boron nitride, and is an ideal hydrogen storage material. In fact, Mg3N2The semiconductor is also a direct band gap semiconductor, the forbidden band width of the semiconductor is about 2.8eV, and the semiconductor has strong light absorption at the band edge, so the semiconductor is a very promising photoelectric functional material, and is particularly suitable for manufacturing photoelectric detection devices of blue-violet light and ultraviolet bands. Unfortunately, however, no Mg has been found to date3N2Report on photoelectric detection devices. There are three major difficulties. One is industrially produced Mg3N2Mainly powder, Mg due to limitations of preparation method and preparation conditions3N2The powder often contains impurities such as magnesium oxide or magnesium simple substance. To develop Mg3N2The photoelectric detector firstly needs to prepare high-quality Mg3N2Bulk single crystals or large areas of Mg3N2Thin film materials, and the research on the aspect is very short. Second is Mg3N2Is unstable in air and is very easy to react with water vapor in air to hydrolyze into magnesium hydroxide and ammonia gas. Thirdly, according to the manufacturing process flow of the traditional photoelectric detector, Mg is generally prepared firstly3N2Material, then in Mg3N2And photoetching the surface of the material to prepare an interdigital electrode or a comb-shaped electrode. The need for a deionized water rinse during photolithography necessarily results in Mg3N2The material is hydrolyzed. The invention innovatively solves the three difficulties, thereby preparing the Mg-based alloy3N2The photoelectric detector of thin film has expanded Mg3N2The application field of the material.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to provide a photoelectric detector based on a magnesium nitride film and a preparation method thereof, which have low cost, safety, reliability, simplicity and convenience, thereby developing Mg3N2The application field of the material is new.
The main innovation points of the invention are as follows: (1) high-purity magnesium is used as a target material, high-purity nitrogen is used as a working gas, and a reactive magnetron sputtering method is adopted to prepare the high-purity magnesiumMass of Mg3N2A film; (2) to prevent Mg3N2The film reacts with water vapor in the air, in Mg3N2After the film sputtering is finished, in-situ Mg is carried out in real time3N2Sputtering a layer of Mg with forbidden bandwidth ratio on the film3N2A transparent dielectric material with a larger forbidden band width, corrosion resistance, hydrolysis resistance and oxidation resistance, such as Boron Nitride (BN) or aluminum nitride (AlN), which is used as Mg3N2The protective layer of (2) also serving as an optical window; (3) the manufacturing process flow of the traditional photoelectric detector is reversed, an interdigital electrode structure is prepared on a substrate, and then Mg grows on the interdigital electrode structure in sequence3N2Thin film material and protective layer (optical window) material, thereby avoiding Mg brought by post-photoetching process3N2The problem of hydrolysis of the material.
The invention relates to a Mg-based material3N2The structure of the novel photoelectric detection device of the thin film is shown in figure 1. Fig. 1(a) is a perspective view, and fig. 1(b) is a sectional view. The photoelectric detection device is provided with a buried metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structure. The device structure is from bottom to top: the bottom layer is a substrate 1, and the substrate can be selected from sapphire, quartz glass, BN or AlN and the like; the second layer is an interdigital electrode 2, the interdigital electrode can be made of transition metal electrode materials with high melting points such as chromium, molybdenum, gold, tungsten, titanium, copper, nickel and the like, the thickness of the interdigital electrode is 50-200 nm, and the finger width and the finger distance of the interdigital electrode are 3-20 microns; the third layer is Mg grown by a reaction magnetron sputtering method3N2Film 3, Mg3N2The thickness of the film 3 is 200-1000 nm, so that the interdigital electrodes are full of interdigital electrode gaps and cover most of the area, and the area for leading out the electrode lead 5 is exposed only at the edge of the interdigital electrode; the fourth layer is a protective layer (optical window) 4 grown by a radio frequency magnetron sputtering method, the protective layer can be made of nitride materials such as BN or AlN, the thickness of the protective layer is 50-200 nm, and the protective layer 4 can completely cover Mg3N2A film 3.
Compared with a non-buried electrode structure, the photoelectric detector with the buried MSM electrode structure has the following advantages: (1) the photodetector with the buried MSM electrode structure has a larger exposure area because there is no shielding of the surface electrode. (2) Due to surface contamination and other reasons, the non-buried electrode can generate surface leakage current after voltage is applied between the fingers, so that dark current is increased; and the buried electrode structure can protect the interdigital electrode from dark current increase caused by surface contamination because the interdigital electrode is buried under the thin film. (3) Because the buried interdigital electrode is completely filled with the thin film and the substrate, after bias voltage is applied to two ends of the MSM interdigital electrode, an electric field is mainly concentrated in the thin film, and the problems that most of the electric field of the exposed MSM interdigital electrode leaks into the air and the electric field is rapidly attenuated along with the increase of the depth of the thin film can be effectively solved.
The invention relates to a Mg-based material3N2The preparation method of the novel photoelectric detection device of the film comprises the following steps:
(1) sputtering or evaporating a metal layer with the thickness of 50-200 nm on the cleaned substrate, and then carrying out thermal annealing treatment to improve the conductivity of the metal layer;
(2) etching the metal layer obtained in the step (1) to form an interdigital electrode structure by using a dry etching or wet etching technology, wherein the finger width and the finger distance of the interdigital electrode are 3-20 microns;
(3) mounting a high-purity Mg target with the purity of more than or equal to 99.95 percent and a high-purity BN target (or AlN target) on a target seat in a growth chamber of a radio frequency magnetron sputtering instrument with a multi-target sputtering function, cleaning and drying a substrate etched with an interdigital electrode structure, and fixing the substrate on a sample rack in the growth chamber; pressing an interdigital electrode area in which an electrode lead 5 is to be led out in the subsequent step by using a ceramic chip when the substrate is fixed, and shielding the interdigital electrode area between the substrate and a target by using a baffle plate, wherein the distance between the Mg target and the substrate is 5-8 cm; opening cooling water system and vacuum pumping system to pump the vacuum degree of the growth chamber to 1 × 10-3Heating the substrate to 400-700 ℃ below Pa; introducing high-purity N with the purity of more than or equal to 99.999 percent2,N2Controlling the pressure in the growth chamber to be 3-5 Pa with the flow rate of 80-200 sccm; then, turning on a radio frequency source connected with the Mg target, adjusting the starting brightness, and adjusting the sputtering power of the Mg target to be 100-300W; will regenerateAdjusting the air pressure in the long chamber to 0.8-1.5 Pa, and carrying out pre-sputtering; opening a baffle after pre-sputtering for 20-30 min, starting the substrate to rotate, enabling the substrate to rotate at a constant speed in the sputtering process, and beginning to deposit Mg3N2Depositing the film for 60-120 min, Mg3N2The thickness of the film is 200-1000 nm;
(4)Mg3N2after the deposition of the film is finished, rotating the baffle plate to shield between the substrate and the target material; continuously introducing high-purity N2Turning off a radio frequency source communicated with the Mg target, and descending the Mg target; the BN target (or AlN target) is lifted to a position 5-8 cm away from the substrate, high-purity Ar gas with the purity of more than or equal to 99.999 percent is introduced, and high-purity N is obtained2The flow rate is adjusted to be 50-100 sccm, the flow rate of high-purity Ar is also adjusted to be 50-100 sccm, and Ar and N are ensured2The flow ratio of the gas is 1-2: 1; firstly, adjusting the pressure of a growth chamber to 3-5 Pa, opening a radio frequency source connected with a BN target (or AlN target), and adjusting the starting; regulating the sputtering power of a BN target (or AlN target) to be 150-400W, then regulating the pressure of a growth chamber to be 0.8-1.5 Pa, and carrying out pre-sputtering; after the pre-sputtering is carried out for 20-30 min, opening a baffle, starting the substrate to rotate, enabling the substrate to rotate at a constant speed in the sputtering process, and beginning to deposit a BN (or AlN) protective layer for 20-60 min; after sputtering is finished, a baffle plate is rotated to shield between the substrate and the target material, a radio frequency source connected with a BN target (or AlN target) is closed, a substrate heating power supply is closed until the substrate is cooled to room temperature, and Ar and N are closed2The gas inlet valve connected with the growth chamber closes Ar and N2Closing the vacuum system and the cooling water system by the gas cylinder valve, thereby completing the preparation of a protective layer 4 (optical window) with the thickness of 50-200 nm;
(5) opening an air release valve of the growth chamber, opening the growth chamber after the air pressure of the growth chamber is balanced with the external air pressure, and taking out a sample; removing the ceramic wafer, and then leading out an electrode lead 5 at the exposed electrode pressed by the ceramic wafer in a silver paste or welding mode; thereby preparing the Mg-based alloy of the invention3N2A thin film photodetector device.
The invention has the advantages that: simple process, low cost, safety, reliability, no toxicity and harm, and Mg3N2The film and the BN (or AlN) protective layer can be grown in situ by using the same equipment, thereby avoiding secondary pollution and Mg3N2Hydrolysis and the like. The method of the invention expands Mg3N2The preparation method is applied to the field of photoelectric functional materials and devices. BN (or AlN) film not only effectively inhibits Mg3N2Hydrolysis of the film increases Mg3N2The film is stable, transparent in infrared, visible and most ultraviolet bands, and is Mg3N2An ideal optical window of the photoelectric device. Adopting a buried MSM type electrode structure, firstly manufacturing an interdigital electrode and then growing Mg3N2Film, not only overcomes the defect that post-photoetching process can cause Mg3N2The problem of film hydrolysis and increase of Mg3N2The exposure area of the thin film photoelectric detector improves the electric field in the active layer, and avoids the problem of dark current increase caused by electrode surface contamination.
Drawings
FIG. 1: the Mg-based material prepared by the invention3N2The novel photoelectric detection device structure schematic diagram of the film. (a) A perspective view of the probe; (b) a cross-sectional view of the detector. 1 is a substrate; 2 is a metal interdigital electrode; 3 is Mg3N2A film; 4 is a BN (or AlN) protective layer; 5 is an electrode lead;
FIG. 2: mg prepared by the invention3N2A raman spectrum of the thin film photodetector;
FIG. 3: mg prepared by the invention3N2The change curves of the Photocurrent (Photocurent) and the dark current (DarkCurrent) of the thin film photodetector along with the external bias voltage;
FIG. 4: mg prepared by the invention3N2Response spectra of the thin film photodetector under different applied bias voltages;
FIG. 5: mg prepared by the invention3N2The change relation of photocurrent with optical power of the thin film photoelectric detector under 1V bias voltage;
FIG. 6: mg prepared by the invention3N2Switching characteristic curve of thin film photoelectric detector under 1V bias voltage。
Detailed Description
Example 1:
(1) and putting the sapphire substrate into acetone for ultrasonic cleaning for 10min, then putting the sapphire substrate into ethanol for ultrasonic cleaning for 10min, finally putting the sapphire substrate into deionized water for ultrasonic cleaning for 10min, and drying the sapphire substrate by using nitrogen for later use.
(2) Putting a high-purity chromium target with the purity of 99.95 percent and a cleaned sapphire substrate into a growth chamber of radio frequency magnetron sputtering, shielding the space between the substrate and the target by a baffle plate, and adjusting the distance between the chromium target and the substrate to 8 cm. Starting power supply, cooling water system, vacuumizing system, and vacuumizing to 5X 10-4Pa. And turning on a heating power supply to heat the substrate to 500 ℃. High-purity Ar with the purity of 99.9995 percent is introduced, the flow rate of the Ar is 100sccm, and the pressure in the growth chamber is controlled to be 3.0 Pa. And turning on the radio frequency source connected with the chromium target, adjusting the starting, and adjusting the power of the chromium target to 80W. The pressure in the growth chamber is increased to 1.0Pa, and the baffle is opened after pre-sputtering for 20 min. And starting the substrate to rotate at a constant speed, and beginning to deposit the chromium metal layer, wherein the deposition time is 20min, and the thickness of the obtained chromium metal layer is 150 nm. And after the deposition is finished, the radio frequency source is closed. The substrate temperature was raised to 700 ℃, the in-situ anneal was performed for 20min, and then the substrate heating source was turned off. And when the temperature of the substrate is cooled to room temperature, closing the Ar gas inlet valve, closing the vacuum-pumping system and closing the cooling water. And opening an air release valve of the growth chamber, opening the growth chamber after the air pressure of the growth chamber is balanced with the external air pressure, taking out the sapphire substrate, and closing the main power supply.
(3) After the sapphire substrate with the chromium metal layer is cleaned and dried, a layer of photoresist is spin-coated on the chromium metal layer (the spin-coating parameters are as follows: the rotation is carried out for 3s at a low rotation speed of 250r/min, and the rotation is carried out for 30s at a high rotation speed of 3500 r/min). And putting the substrate coated with the photoresist in a rotary oven for pre-baking, wherein the pre-baking temperature is 90 ℃, and the pre-baking time is 20 min. And carrying out primary photoetching on a photoetching machine by using the prepared interdigital electrode mask plate to etch an interdigital electrode pattern. The finger width and the finger distance of the interdigital electrode structure are both 10 mu m. The exposure time in the photolithography process was 70s and the development time was about 90 s. After the development, the film is hardened in an oven at the film hardening temperature of 120 ℃ for 10 min.
(4) Preparing an etching liquid of metal chromium: 25mL of deionized water is measured and placed in a beaker, 5g of ammonium ceric nitrate is weighed by an electronic balance and added into the deionized water, and finally 0.85mL of glacial acetic acid is dripped in, and the chromium corrosive liquid is prepared after the ammonium ceric nitrate is completely dissolved. And (3) placing the hardened sapphire substrate into an etching solution, heating in a water bath at 80 ℃ for 30s, then fully cleaning the sapphire substrate with deionized water, removing the etching solution, then placing the substrate into acetone to remove the photoresist, and then sequentially cleaning with ethanol and deionized water. Thus, the sapphire substrate with the chromium interdigital electrode structure is manufactured. The finger width and the finger distance of the interdigital electrode structure are both 10 mu m.
(5) And putting a high-purity BN target with the purity of 99.9 percent, a high-purity Mg target with the purity of 99.95 percent and a sapphire substrate with a chromium interdigital electrode structure into a growth chamber of a radio frequency magnetron sputtering instrument. When the substrate is fixed, a small part of the electrode (beneficial to post-production of electrode lead) is pressed by the ceramic chip, the electrode is shielded between the substrate and the target by the baffle plate, the distance between the Mg target and the substrate is adjusted to 5cm, and the vacuum degree of the growth chamber is pumped to 5 multiplied by 10-4Pa, heating the substrate to 500 ℃, and introducing high-purity N2,N2Controlling the pressure in the growth chamber to be 3Pa, opening a radio frequency source connected with the Mg target, adjusting the starting, adjusting the power of the Mg target to be 200W, controlling the pressure in the growth chamber to be 1Pa, opening a baffle after pre-sputtering for 20min, starting the substrate to rotate, and beginning to deposit Mg3N2Film, deposition time is 90min, Mg3N2The thickness of the film was about 600 nm. After the deposition is finished, the radio frequency source connected with the Mg target is turned off, the Mg target is lowered, and the high-purity BN target is lifted to the position 6cm away from the substrate. Introducing high-purity Ar, N2The flow is adjusted to be 50sccm, the Ar flow is also adjusted to be 50sccm, the pressure of the growth chamber is controlled to be 3Pa, a radio frequency source connected with the BN target is opened, the starting is adjusted, the power of the BN target is adjusted to be 350W, the pressure of the growth chamber is controlled to be 1Pa, a baffle is opened after the BN target is pre-sputtered for 20min, the substrate is started to rotate, and the BN protective layer begins to be deposited to protect Mg3N2Not hydrolyzed, the deposition time is 40min, and the thickness of the BN protective layer is about 150 nm. After the sputtering is finished, taking out the sample, guiding the sample by silver paste at the part of the exposed electrode shielded by the ceramic chipAn electrode lead is taken out, and the Mg grown based on the reaction magnetron sputtering method is obtained3N2A thin film buried MSM type photodetector.
(6) Prepared Mg-based3N2The raman spectrum of the thin film photodetector is shown in fig. 2. This is typically Mg3N2The strongest Raman vibration peak is positioned at 382cm-1The half-peak width of the vibration peak is only 8.0cm corresponding to the symmetric stretching vibration peak of the Mg-N bond-1Description of Mg3N2The crystallization quality of the film is better.
(7) Prepared Mg was tested3N2Performance of thin film photodetectors. The variation of light and dark current with applied bias is shown in FIG. 3, and the variation range of applied bias is-10V to 10V. Chromium electrode and Mg3N2The films are in Schottky contact, and the dark current of the sample is very small. Under the irradiation of an ultraviolet light-emitting diode with the central wavelength of 380nm, a large photocurrent is generated, and the photoelectric response is obvious. Under the bias of 4V, the ratio of light to dark current is larger than 30. FIG. 4 is Mg3N2Response spectrum of thin film photodetector. The detector has photoelectric response in the range of 280-510nm, the cut-off wavelength of the response peak is located at 510nm, and the red shift is generated compared with the intrinsic absorption limit of the film, probably because of the defect absorption in the film. As the applied bias voltage increases, the responsivity of the detector also increases. Mg measured under 7V bias3N2The maximum responsivity of the thin film photodetector is about 2 mA/W. Because the area of the light source emergent light spot of the measuring system is larger than that of the detector, the light is wasted, and the measured responsivity is smaller than that of the actual detector. FIG. 5 is Mg under 1V bias3N2The photocurrent generated by the thin film photodetector varies with the optical power. It can be seen that the photocurrent increases linearly with increasing optical power impinging on the detector. FIG. 6 is Mg3N2Switching characteristics of thin film photodetectors. The detector is applied with a bias voltage of 1V, irradiated by an ultraviolet light emitting diode with a central wavelength of 380nm, and switched on and off every 120s, and the test result shows that the detector is a detectorHas good switching characteristics and repeatability.