High responsivity and near-infrared photodetector based on graphene/MoSe_2 heterostructure

Graphene has attracted great interest in optoelectronics, owing to its high carrier mobility and broadband absorption. However, a graphene photodetector exhibits low photoresponsivity because of its weak light absorption. In this work, we designed a graphene/MoSe_2 heterostructure photodetector, which exhibits photoresponse ranging from visible to near infrared and an ultrahigh photoresponsivity up to 1.3 × 104 A·W~(-1) at 550 nm. The electron–hole pairs are excited in a few-layered MoSe2 and separated by the built-in electric field. A large number of electrons shift to graphene, while the holes remain in the MoSe_2, which creates a photogating effect.     

Visible and near-infrared responsivity of femtosecond-laser microstructured silicon photodiodes

We investigated the current-voltage characteristics and responsivity of photodiodes fabricated with silicon that was microstructured by use of femtosecond-laser pulses in a sulfur-containing atmosphere. The photodiodes that we fabricated have a broad spectral response ranging from the visible to the near infrared (400-1600 nm). The responsivity depends on substrate doping, microstructuring fluence, and annealing temperature. We obtained room-temperature responsivities as high as 100 A/W at 1064 nm, 2 orders of magnitude higher than for standard silicon photodiodes. For wavelengths below the bandgap we obtained responsivities as high as 50 mA/W at 1330 nm and 35 mA/W at 1550 nm.     

Enhanced light absorption of silicon in the near-infrared band by designed gold nanostructures

A scheme to enhance near-infrared band absorption of a Si nanoparticle by placing the Si nanoparticle into a designed gold nanostructure is proposed. Three-dimensional （3D） finite-difference time-domain simulations are employed to calcu- late the absorption spectrum of the Si nanostructure and maximize it by generating alternate designs. The results show that in the near-infrared region over 700 nm, the absorption of a pure Si nanoparticle is very low, but when the same nanoparticle is placed within an optimally designed gold nanostructure, its absorption cross section can be enhanced by more than two orders of magnitude in the near-infrared band.     

Enhanced ultraviolet to near-infrared absorption by two-tier structured silicon formed by simple chemical etching

Two-tier structured silicon with micron/nanometre scale features is fabricated by simple wet chemical etching. The structured silicon sample exhibits dramatically enhanced absorption from ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelength (250–2500?nm). Absorption is enhanced to near unity at wavelengths shorter than 1100?nm caused by the extremely suppressed reflection from the two-tier structured surface. Within the wavelength range from 1100 to 2500?nm, the sample exhibits a strong absorbance of 69.6% at 1100?nm and an average of 30% at longer wavelengths. By analyzing XPS spectra from the surface of the two-tier structured sample, we attribute this near-infrared absorption to band structure and morphological changes presented in the textured layer.     

Photoemission cross section:A critical parameter in the impurity photovoltaic effect

A numerical study has been conducted to explore the role of photoemission cross sections in the impurity photovoltaic(IPV) effect for silicon solar cells doped with indium. The photovoltaic parameters(short-circuit current density, opencircuit voltage, and conversion efficiency) of the IPV solar cell were calculated as functions of variable electron and hole photoemission cross sections. The presented results show that the electron and hole photoemission cross sections play critical roles in the IPV effect. When the electron photoemission cross section is 10-20cm~2, the conversion efficiencyη of the IPV cell always has a negative gain(?η 0) if the IPV impurity is introduced. A large hole photoemission cross section can adversely impact IPV solar cell performance. The combination of a small hole photoemission cross section and a large electron photoemission cross section can achieve higher conversion efficiency for the IPV solar cell since a large electron photoemission cross section can enhance the necessary electron transition from the impurity level to the conduction band and a small hole photoemission cross section can reduce the needless sub-bandgap absorption. It is concluded that those impurities with small(large) hole photoemission cross section and large(small) electron photoemission cross section,whose energy levels are near the valence(or conduction) band edge, may be suitable for use in IPV solar cells. These results may help in judging whether or not an impurity is appropriate for use in IPV solar cells according to its electron and hole photoemission cross sections.     

Facile sensitizing of PbSe film for near-infrared photodetector by microwave plasma processing

High quality PbSe film was first fabricated by a thermal evaporation method, and then the effect of plasma sensitization on the PbSe film was systemically investigated. Typical detectivity and significant photosensitivity are achieved in the PbSe-based photodetector, reaching maximum values of 7.6×10⁹ cm·Hz^1/2/W and 1.723 A/W, respectively. Compared with thermal annealing, plasma sensitization makes the sensitization easier and significantly improves the performance.     

High-voltage photovoltaic effect in layers of silicon evaporated in vacuum

Silicon layers which generate a photovoltaic voltage of up to 150 V/cm at room temperature are obtained by evaporation in a vacuum onto an insulating substrate. The spectral characteristics of the voltage, the effect of thermal processing on the value of the voltage and on the resistance of the layers, and the dependence of the voltage on the direction of the illumination and on the structure of the photosensitive layers are investigated. It is concluded that the photosensitive layers of silicon possess a microcrystalline structure with an ordered arrangement of the small crystals, separated by high-resistance oxide-type layers, and are sources of elementary photovoltaic voltages which are added along the layer. It is suggested that the reason for the formation of the elementary photovoltaic voltages is the separation of electron-hole pairs, produced by the light, by the field of the barriers which exist on the surfaces of the individual crystals of the layer and in the gaps between the crystals.The authors thank M. A. Rumsha for help with the electron diffraction investigations and for useful discussions, and also M. I. Rudenok for making the electron microscope investigations.     

Field emission graphene–oxide–silicon field effect based photodetector

Silicon‐based devices keep moving into smaller dimension for improving the speed, efficiency, and low‐power consumption. Novel designed semiconductor device architectures are needed to overcome the physical limitations. An integration of well‐designed nanostructure and nanomaterials can potentially establish new principles and approaches to nanoelectronic and photonic devices. We herein demonstrate a graphene/SiO₂/p‐Si (GOS) heterostructure with an embedded nanoscale mesa, forming a GOS‐Mesa field‐effect photodetector. The proposed structure exhibits that multiple exciton generation (MEG) can occur in a quantum‐confined two‐dimensional electron gas (2DEG) region via impact ionization, leading to high internal quantum efficiency (η_IQE). The numerical simulation of the carrier multiplication (CM) factor in our designed structure finds a reasonable agreement with empirical data. Simulated and measured internal quantum efficiency demonstrate ～195% and ～135% of UV–Vis radiation, respectively. A vertically confined 2DEG plays an important role not only in enabling the electron emission process which is responsible for the flowing of electron current, but also in developing a highly localized electric field (up to ～10⁶ V/cm) at the SiO₂/Si interface, enabling an impact ionization process under photon energy of merely ～1.95 eV. Our findings demonstrate that carrier multiplication can be achieved in a suitably designed nanoscale structure in conjunction with nanomaterial on silicon‐based devices, providing incentive to better understand MEG within quantum wells in 2DEG systems, and being a research path to enhancing the efficiency of future solar harvesting technologies. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

基于超连续光源的InGaAs探测器相对光谱响应度定标技术

InGaAs光电探测器是近红外波段重要的光探测器件之一,具有高量子效率、低暗电流、宽带宽等特性,被广泛应用于光电测量、光通信及遥感等领域中。基于超连续白光激光器与双单色仪的光谱比较装置,利用标准InGaAs陷阱探测器对平面InGaAs探测器在900 nm～1600 nm波段进行了相对光谱响应度的定标,并与利用钨灯作为光源的响应度定标结果进行了比较。两种光源条件下,光谱响应度在900 nm～1600 nm波段最大相对差值小于0.2%,取得了较好的一致性。超连续光源的测量重复性最大值小于0.06%,远小于使用卤钨灯的测量重复性1%,降低了因测量重复性贡献的不确定度分量,验证了超连续激光器在探测器相对光谱响应度定标中的可行性。此外,还对被定标的平面探测器光谱响应度结果进行了测量不确定度分析。     

基于表面等离子体共振增强的硅基锗金属-半导体-金属光电探测器的设计研究

金属-半导体-金属光电探测器的光栅结构可激发表面等离子体, 有效增强探测器的吸收. 为深入研究器件结构对于表面等离子体的激发及共振增强的影响, 本文提出了一种具有超薄有源层的硅基锗金属-半导体-金属光电探测器的设计方法. 采用时域有限差分的方法详细分析了光栅周期、光栅厚度、 光栅间距及有源层厚度对于表面等离子体共振增强器件性能的影响, 通过仿真模拟获得了器件的最佳结构, 详细地分析了各个界面激发的表面等离子体及其共振模式对于光谱吸收增强的机理. 仿真结果表明, 有源层锗的厚度为400nm的超薄器件在通信波段具有较高的吸收, 尤其在1550nm波长处器件的归一化的光谱吸收率可以高达53.77%, 增强因子达7.22倍. 利用共振效应能够极大地提高高速器件的光电响应, 为解决光电探测器响应度与响应速度之间的相互制约关系提供了有效途径. 关键词： 表面等离子体 锗探测器 时域有限差分仿真     

Impurity photovoltaic effect in silicon solar cells doped with two impurities

In this work, a numerical study has been carried out to investigate the impurity photovoltaic (IPV) effect for silicon solar cells doped with two impurities (indium and thallium). It is found that the conversion efficiency \(\eta \) of the IPV solar cell doped with two impurities can improve by 2.21 % absolute, which is greater than that of the IPV solar cell doped with indium ( \(\Delta \eta =1.63\,\%\) ), but less than that of the one doped with thallium ( \(\Delta \eta =2.69\,\%\) ). It is concluded that introducing two IPV impurities may not be a good selection for implementing the IPV effect since one impurity with poorer IPV effect can absorb some sub-bandgap photons while contributing fewer currents. The location of impurity energy level is critical to the IPV cell performance. For an acceptor-type IPV impurity, the optimized location of the IPV impurity energy level locates at 0.20–0.26 eV above the valence band edge. Our results may help to make better use of the IPV effect for improving solar cell efficiency.     

Enhanced optical absorption in nanopatterned silicon thin films with a nano-cone-hole structure for photovoltaic applications

In this paper, the optical properties of the silicon nano-cone-hole (NCH) structure array are studied. The ultimate efficiency of the optimized NCH array is enhanced by 23.11% compared to an optimized nanohole array of the same thickness. The absorptance enhancement of the NCH arrays is attributed to its lowered reflectance, more supported resonant modes, and enhanced mode interaction. The angular dependence of ultimate efficiency is also investigated.     

High sensitivity of palladium on porous silicon MSM photodetector

In this work, the nanocrystalline porous silicon (PS) is prepared through the simple electrochemical etching of n-type Si (1 0 0) under the illumination of a 100 W incandescent white light. SEM, AFM, Raman and PL have been used to characterize the morphological and optical properties of the PS. SEM shows uniformed circular pores with estimated sizes, which range between 100 and 500 nm. AFM shows an increase in its surface roughness (about 6 times compared to c-Si). Raman spectra of the PS show a stronger peak with FWHM=4.3 cm⁻¹ and slight blueshift of 0.5 cm⁻¹ compared to Si. The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) peak corresponding to red emission is observed at 639.5 nm, which is due to the nano-scaled size of silicon through the quantum confinement effect. The size of the Si nanostructures is estimated to be around 7.8 nm from a quantized state effective mass theory. Thermally untreated palladium (Pd) finger contact was deposited on the PS to form MSM photodetector. Pd/PS MSM photodetector shows lower dark (two orders of magnitude) and higher photocurrent compared to a conventional Si device. Interestingly, Pd/PS MSM photodetector exhibits 158 times higher gain compared to the conventional Si device at 2.5 V.     

Fabrication and characterization of novel high-speed In GaAs/InP uni-traveling-carrier photodetector for high responsivity

A top-illuminated circular mesa uni-traveling-carrier photodetector(UTC-PD) is proposed in this paper. By employing Gaussian graded doping in In Ga As absorption layer and In P depleted layer, the responsivity and high speed response characteristics of the device are optimized simultaneously. The responsivity up to 1.071 A/W(the external quantum efficiency of 86%) is obtained at 1550 nm with a 40-μm diameter device under 10-V reverse bias condition. Meanwhile, the dark current of 7.874 n A and the 3-d B bandwidth of 11 GHz are obtained with the same device at a reverse bias voltage of3 V.     

The simulation of temperature dependence of responsivity and response time for 6H-SiC UV photodetector

In this paper the temperature dependence of responsivity and response time for 6H-SiC ultraviolet (UV) photodetector is simulated based on numerical model in the range from 300K to 900K. The simulation results show that the responsivity and the response time of device are less sensitive to temperature and this kind of UV photodetector has excellent temperature stability. Also the effects of device structure and bias voltage on the responsivity and the response time are presented. The thicker the drift region is, the higher the responsivity and the longer the response time are. So the thickness of drift region has to be carefully designed to make trade-off between responsivity and response time.     

Theoretical analysis of the impurity distribution in single-crystal silicon

Results are presented for the total energies calculated for oxygen and carbon impurities in silicon at T=0 K. The equilibrium positions of these point defects are determined at low (10⁻³–10⁻² at. %) concentrations. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 1384–1385 (August 1996)     

The effect of uniaxial static pressure on the behavior of an aluminum acceptor impurity in silicon

The effect of uniaxial compression on the behavior of shallow aluminum acceptor centers in silicon has been studied. The _μAl impurity atoms were created by implanting negative muons into silicon single crystals doped with phosphorus to 1.6×10¹³ cm^?3 (sample 1) and 1.9×10¹³ cm^?3 (sample 2). The muon polarization was studied in the temperature range 10–300 K. Measurements were performed in a magnetic field of 2.5 kG oriented perpendicularly to the muon spin. The samples were oriented so that the selected crystal axis ([111] and [100] in samples 1 and 2, respectively), the magnetic field, and the initial muon-spin polarization were mutually perpendicular. External pressure applied to the sample along the indicated crystal axis changed both the absolute value of the acceptor magnetic-moment relaxation rate and the character of its temperature dependence.     

The photovoltaic effect in poly(alkylthiophene) films on a silicon substrate

A study of photovoltage was made for a series of sandwich structures on the basis of poly(3-dode-cylthiophene) films having characteristic thicknesses 100 and 500 nm and being deposited on n-Si and p-Si substrates from a solution. Semitransparent Al and Au electrodes were obtained on the surfaces of these films by thermal evaporation. A clear photoresponse was obtained in films on an n-Si substrate. Two distinct spectral components of the photovoltage were observed in the 1.3-to 3.6-eV (900–300 nm) energy range for incident quanta. The first component corresponds to the absorption edge of the Si substrate (1.4–1.6 eV). The other corresponds to the π-π* absorption of the polythiophene films (1.7–2.1 eV). The dependences of the photovoltage upon radiation intensity are different for these two spectral components. The relaxation time of the photoresponse for the second component, corresponding to the absorption in the film, is 10–20 min. This is 3–4 orders of magnitude higher than the relaxation time for the first component. A model of the potential barrier at the polythiophene/n-Si interface, allowing one to explain the main experimental results, is proposed. This barrier is formed as a result of the chemical interaction of the polythiophene molecules with the substrate.