Zener Tunneling and Photoresponse of a WS2/Si van der Waals Heterojunction

Van der Waals heterostructures built from two-dimensional materials on a conventional semiconductor offer novel electronic and optoelectronic properties for next-generation information devices. Here we report that by simply stacking a vapor-phase-synthesized multilayer n-type WS2 film onto a p-type Si substrate, a high-responsivity Zener photodiode can be achieved. We find that above a small reverse threshold voltage of 0.5 V, the fabricated heterojunction exhibits Zener tunneling behavior which was confirmed by its negative temperature coefficient of the breakdown voltage. The WS2/Si heterojunction working in the Zener breakdown regime shows a stable and linear photoresponse, a broadband photoresponse ranging from 340 to 1100 nm with a maximum photoresponsivity of 5.7 A/W at 660 nm and a fast response speed of 670 μs. Such high performance can be attributed to the ultrathin depletion layer involved in the WS2/Si p-n junction, on which a strong electric field can be created even with a small reverse voltage and thereby enabling an efficient separation of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs.