Performance enhancement of TiO2-thin film photodetector via Ag nanoparticles for optical sensing applications
摘要
In this work, Ag-nanoparticles were assisted over TiO2-thin films (Ag-NPs/TiO2-TF) deposited on a p-type Si substrate through glancing angle deposition (GLAD) via e-beam evaporation technique. The morphology of the sample was examined by FE-SEM images, and XRD results confirmed the presence of anatase TiO2 and Ag nanoparticles in the sample. Under UV-Vis spectra, the sample Ag-NPs/TiO2-TF show a better absorption peak in both visible and UV radiation in comparison with the TiO2-thin film sample. Under the blue light (470 nm) with a biased voltage of + 4 V, the Ag-NPs/TiO2-TF based photodetector device shows excellent performance parameters in term of External Quantum efficiency (EQE), Responsivity (R), Detectivity (D), and Noise Equivalent Power (NEP) of ~ 31.85%, ~ 12.07 A/W, ~ 3.40 × 1012 Jones and ~ 4.71 × 10− 11 W, respectively. Further, the sensitivity and response time of the Ag-NPs/TiO2-TF based device were evaluated, and it was found to be ~ 2.26 and 32/50 ms, respectively. This Ag nanoparticles assisted TiO2-TF grown on the p-Si substrate heterojunction photodetector shows an outstanding performance, and it will be an excellent candidate for advanced optoelectronic applications in the future.