Metal-insulator-semiconductor heterostructures for plasmonic hot-carrier optoelectronics

Plasmonic hot-electron devices are attractive candidates for light-energy harvesting and photodetection applications. For solid state devices, the most compact and straightforward architecture is the metalsemiconductor Schottky junction. However convenient, this structure introduces limitations such...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: García de Arquer, Francisco Pelayo, Konstantatos, Gerasimos
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/76502
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/76502
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Plasmons (Physics)
Surface plasmons
Plasmons (Física)
Descrição
Resumo:Plasmonic hot-electron devices are attractive candidates for light-energy harvesting and photodetection applications. For solid state devices, the most compact and straightforward architecture is the metalsemiconductor Schottky junction. However convenient, this structure introduces limitations such as the elevated dark current associated to thermionic emission, or constraints for device design due to the finite choice of materials. In this work we theoretically consider the metalinsulator-semiconductor heterojunction as a candidate for plasmonic hotcarrier photodetection and solar cells. The presence of the insulating layer can significantly reduce the dark current, resulting in increased device performance with predicted solar power conversion efficiencies up to 9%. For photodetection, the sensitivity can be extended well into the infrared by a judicious choice of the insulating layer, with up to 300-fold expected enhancement in detectivity.