A UV-enhanced, self-powered detector with graphene p–n junction grown in situ on SiC(0001) with periodic boron ion modulation

Graphene p–n junctions hold great potential in the fields of electronic and optoelectronic devices. Here, we develop a scheme of the in situ growth of an epitaxial graphene (EG) lateral p–n junction on a semi-insulating SiC (0001) substrate with periodic boron ion implantation, and utilizing the advantages of EG, SiC, and p–n junctions in a two-terminal device at the same time, a high-performance UV-enhanced self-powered photodetector is prepared based on an EG p–n junction with a maximum Fermi level difference of about 210 mV. Moreover, when a 325-nm laser locally irradiates the p-terminal of the device, its responsivity is about six times higher than when the laser locally irradiates the n-terminal. This indicates that EG on SiC with a p-type modulated subsurface is conducive to designing efficient UV photodetectors in which SiC serves as the gain medium. All of these characteristics facilitate the growth of EG p–n junctions on a wafer scale and the fabrication of EG p–n junctions for optoelectronic and electronic devices using standard semiconductor synthesis procedures.