Fabrication of Novel Flexible Ag/Si Nanostructures Schottky Junction Near-Ir Photodetectors and Their Properties Characterization

Single-crystalline Si substrate with textured surface possesses good visible light-trapping property, making it widely used in solar cells and visible light detectors. However, Si has a bandgap of 1.12 eV, it is highly transparent to infrared (IR) light, which limits its application in the near-IR spectral range. Thus, many recent research efforts have been devoted to fabricating surface-textured Si nanostructures, which attempt to extend their light absorption range from the visible to the near-IR region. On the other hand, flexible Si electronics have gained considerable attention because of their potential applications in bendable displays and wearable sensors. Therefore, in this project, particular emphasis will be focused on developing novel low-temperature metal-catalyzed etching and electroless plating techniques for the fabrication of flexible thin Si substrates with a smooth surface, and various novel flexible metal nanoparticles/Si nano-heterostructure arrays and infrared nanodetectors. The effects of different bending conditions on the surface morphologies, microstructures, surface wettability, and infrared photo-detection properties of the produced novel flexible Si-based nanodevices will also be systematically investigated.