LAUSR

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.