Review of improved spectral response of ultraviolet photodetectors by surface plasmon

Abstract

Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors based on wide band gap semiconductor have attracted much attention for their small volume, low working voltage, long lifetime, good chemical and thermal stability. Up to now, many researches have been done on the semiconductors based UV detectors and some kinds of detectors have been made, such as metalsemiconductor-metal (MSM), Schottky, and PIN-type detectors. However, the sensitivity values of those detectors are still far from the expectation. Recent years, surface plasmon (SP) has been considered to be an effective way to enhance the sensitivity of semiconductor based UV photodetector. When the light is matched with the resonance frequency of surface plasmon, the localized field enhancement or scattering effect will happen and thus the spectral response will be enhanced. Here, we present an overview of surface plasmon enhancing the performance of UV detectors, including the GaN, ZnO, and other wide band gap semiconductor UV detectors. Both fundamental and experimental achievements are contained in this review.

Progress on photovoltaic AlGaN photodiodes for solar-blind ultraviolet photodetection

“…Generally, Ag and Au nanoparticles (NPs) are ideal candidates for improving the performance of optoelectronic devices [171,172] . However, the plasmon frequencies of these metals are less than the frequency of solar-blind UV light, so they are not suitable for further application in SBPDs [173] . Zhang et al found that the plasmon frequency of Al NPs could match with that of solar-blind UV light, and they realized remarkable plasmon resonance on Al 0.54 Ga 0.46 N MSM SBPDs [153] .…”

Localized surface plasmon resonance-enhanced solar-blind Al0.4Ga0.6N MSM photodetectors exhibiting high-temperature robustness

“…When the oscillation frequency matches with the frequency of the external optical field, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) occurs. In metal NPs, the resonant excitation of the SPs is localized around the NP and consequently termed as LSPR [17][18][19][20]. LSPR has been utilized to improve the performance of semiconductor UV PDs.…”

High performance Cu2O film/ZnO nanowires self-powered photodetector by electrochemical deposition*

“…In addition, selfpowered photodetectors possess the advantages of fast time response and high responsivity. Some researchers have fabricated self-powered photodetectors based on various structures, such as, Schottky junction, [1,2] p-n junction, [3,4] and photo electrochemical cell. [5] Although self-powered photodetectors have been developed for many years, their performances still cannot meet the requirement of commercially application at present.…”