Highly sensitive UV detector based on the transverse Dember effect of 4H-SiC single crystal

Abstract

In this work, voltage-mode passive ultraviolet (UV) detectors have been designed and fabricated based on the transverse Dember effect of c-axis tilted n-type 4H-SiC single crystals, which may solve the disadvantages of traditional UV detectors with inadequate sensitivity and stability. A sensitivity as high as 96 000 μV/W has been identified in such 4H-SiC detectors via the transverse Dember effect under the illumination of UV light with a wavelength of 365 nm, which significantly exceeds those of traditional UV detectors based on the transverse thermoelectric effect. In addition, the rise time and decay time of 1.0 and 10.2 ms have been determined in these 4H-SiC detectors, respectively, which are much smaller than those of the current-mode detectors. These results may provide an approach to fabricate the high-performance UV detectors with low cost.