Yicheng Lu

Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) have attracted considerable interests because of its aesthetically attractive appearance and overall low cost. In BIPV, system integration on a glass substrate like windows is essential to cover a large area of a building with low cost. However, the conventional high voltage devices in inverters have to be built on the specially selected single crystal substrates, limiting its application for large area electronic systems, such as the BIPV. We demonstrate a Magnesium Zinc Oxide (MZO) based high voltage thin film transistor (HVTFT) built on a transparent glass substrate. The devices are designed with unique ring-type structures and use modulated Mg doping in the channel - gate dielectric interface, resulting in a blocking voltage of over 600 V. In addition to BIPV, the MZO HVTFT based inverter technology also creates new opportunities for emerging self-powered smart glass.

The copper-free click reaction was explored as a surface functionalization methodology for ZnO nanorod films grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). 11-Azidodecanoic acid was bound to ZnO nanorod films through the carboxylic acid moiety, leaving the azide group available for Cu-free click reaction with alkynes. The azide-functionalized layer was reacted with 1-ethynylpyrene, a fluorescent probe, and with alkynated biotin, a small biomolecule. The immobilization of pyrene on the surface was probed by fluorescence spectroscopy, and the immobilization of biotin was confirmed by binding with streptavidin–fluorescein isothiocyanate (streptavidin–FITC). The functionalized ZnO films were characterized by Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflectance (FTIR–ATR), steady-state fluorescence emission, fluorescence microscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM).

We report a ZnO-based thin film transistor UV photodetector with a back gate configuration. The thin-film transistor (TFT) aspect ratio W/L is 150 μm/5 μm and has a current on-off ratio of 10¹⁰. The detector shows UV-visible rejection ratio of 10⁴ and cut-off wavelength of 376 nm. The device has low dark current of 5 × 10⁻¹⁴ A. The persistent photoconductivity is suppressed through oxygen plasma treatment of the channel surface which significantly reduces the density of oxygen vacancy confirmed by XPS measurements. The proper gate bias-control further reduces recovery time. The UV-TFT configuration is particularly suitable for making large-area imaging arrays.