Au Nanoparticle-based Plasmonic Enhancement of Photocurrent in Gallium Nitride Metal-Semiconductor-Metal (MSM) Ultraviolet Photodetectors

Arjun Shetty[1], K J Vinoy[1], S B Krupanidhi[2]
[1]Electrical Communication Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
[2]Materials Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
发布日期 2013

III-nitride semiconductors and gallium nitride in particular have recently become increasingly important for optoelectronic applications like LEDs, solar cells and photodetectors due to their attractive properties like wide and direct bandgap, high power handling capability and high breakdown field. Nanoplasmonic enhancement of photodetectors by scattering effects has been well known and is considered as an effective way of improving the photo current characteristics of a photodetector. In this study we explore the use of Au instead of Ag for nanoplasmonic enhancement. A photodetector with plasmonic effects was modeled using the RF Module and Semiconductor Module of COMSOL Multiphysics®. The simulations results agree well with experimental results and we obtain an increase of photocurrent of up to 1.4 times in the presence of the Au nanoparticles.