Near zero-bias MIIM diode based on TiO2/ZnO for energy harvesting applications

Energy harvesting rectennas require ultrafast rectifying diodes that are efficiently matched to the optical nanoantenna. These diodes should possess low on-resistance and high responsivity. Here, we introduce a metal-insulator-metal diode composed of a new material, Ti-TiO2-Al. This diode has a 1.0 nm ultrathin insulator layer fabricated using atomic layer deposition (ALD). It has a zero-bias resistance of 275 Ω and a maximum responsivity of 3.1 A/W. To further improve its performance, another ultrathin layer of ZnO was added. The proposed Ti-TiO2/ZnO-Al metal-insulator-insulator-metal diode has a zero-bias resistance of 312 Ω and a maximum responsivity of 5.1 A/W. The two types of diodes are fabricated on a SiO2 substrate using conventional photolithography and ALD. Between 20 °C and 55 °C, the I-V characteristics did not show much temperature dependence. The effective barrier height, dielectric constant, and electron effective mass in each insulator are extracted using a constrained and derivative-based optimization algorithm.