High-performance and self-powered visible light photodetector using multiple coupled synergetic effects

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Optoelectronics
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Self-powered photodetectors are crucial for low-power electronic applications.
• Enhancing photodetector performance, particularly in the visible spectrum, remains a key challenge.
• Combining multiple physical effects offers a promising route for next-generation optoelectronic devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a novel method for significantly enhancing self-powered photodetector performance in the visible region.
• To investigate the synergistic effects of pyroelectric, photovoltaic, and plasmonic phenomena in a single device.
• To fabricate and characterize a tri-layered heterojunction photodetector incorporating silver nanoparticles.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a tri-layered heterojunction photodetector using n-Si/p-SnO/n-ZnO.
• Inclusion of silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) at the SnO/ZnO interface to leverage the plasmonic effect.
• Characterization of the device's photo-response under a chopped 650 nm laser excitation.
• Optimization of Ag NPs size and shape for maximum performance enhancement.

Main Results:

• The photodetector incorporating spheroidal Ag NPs (∼70 nm diameter) showed the most significant performance enhancement.
• The optimized Al/Si/SnO/Ag NPs/ZnO/ITO device achieved responsivity of 210.2 mA W⁻¹, detectivity of 5.47 × 10⁹ Jones, and sensitivity of 15.0 × 10⁴.
• The device exhibited fast response times with rise and fall times of 2.3 μs and 51.3 μs, respectively.
• Performance metrics were superior to existing ZnO-based pyro-phototronic photodetectors.

Conclusions:

• Coupling pyroelectric, photovoltaic, and plasmonic effects is a viable and effective strategy for high-performance self-powered photodetectors.
• The developed photodetector demonstrates state-of-the-art performance for visible light detection.
• This work paves the way for advanced optoelectronic applications utilizing synergistic physical effects.