The phenomenon of hot carriers, which are generated through the nonradiative decay of surface plasmons in ultrathin metallic films, offers an intriguing opportunity for subbandgap photodetection even at room temperature. These hot carriers possess sufficient energy to inject into the conduction band of a semiconductor material. The groundbreaking use of iridium (Ir) ultrathin film as an ultraviolet (UV) plasmonic material on silicon (Si) for high-performance photodetectors (PHDs) has been successfully demonstrated. Elevating the thickness of the sputtered Ir film to 4 nm yields a notable surge in photocurrent, registering an impressive 600 μA under 365 nm UV illumination with electron mobility of 1.37E3 cm² V⁻¹ s. This PHD exhibits excellent OFF-ON photoresponses at various applied voltages ranging from 0 to 5 V, maintaining a stable photocurrent. Under UV illumination, it displays exceptional performance, achieving a high detectivity of 1.25E14 Jones and a responsivity of 1.28 A W⁻¹. These outstanding results underscore the significant advantages of increasing the thickness of the Ir film in PHDs, leading to improvements in conductivity, detectivity, external quantum efficiency, responsivity, as well as superior sensitivity for light detection.

This study focused on investigating the optoelectronic properties of molybdenum trioxide (α-MoO₃) thin films using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique through different cycle numbers and theoretical investigation. Initial band gap calculations using standard DFT with GGA-PBE resulted in a value of 1.19 eV, which deviated significantly from experimental measurements. The GGA + U method with Hubbard U corrections was applied for the first time to improve the accuracy. This refinement led to a more precise band gap value of 3.09 eV, closely matching previously reported experimental data. The electronic parameters of the α-MoO₃ photodetector, such as ideality factor (n), barrier height (Φ₀), and series resistance (R_s), were analyzed using the thermionic emission theory and confirmed by Cheung and Nord's methods. The results demonstrated that the sample deposited with 100 pulses exhibited higher photodetector performance under UV illumination, despite having a lower R_s.

Self-powered UV sensing has enormous potential in military and civilian applications. However, achieving high responsivity and fast response/recovery time presents significant challenges. Self-powered photodetectors (PDs) have several advantages over traditional PDs, including higher sensitivity, lower power consumption, and simpler design. This study introduces a breakthrough self-powered PD that uses a Schottky junction of 2D α-MoO₃/iridium (Ir)/Si ultrathin film to detect 365 nm light at 0 V bias through using atomic layer deposition (ALD) and sputtering systems. The PD response is enhanced by plasmonic Ir-induced hot carriers, enabling detection in a mere 0.1 ms. Incorporating a 4 nm Ir layer boosts the responsivity from 0 to 34 A W⁻¹, and the external quantum efficiency is elevated from 0 to 7E11 under 365 nm light illumination. It also has a high I_ON/I_OFF ratio of 11.22E4 at 0 V. These results make the MoO₃/4 nm Ir/Si structure an interesting option for self-powered PDs with high efficiency, and the use of a simple ALD system for large-scale fabrication of 2D α-MoO₃ on hot carrier Ir plasmonic layer. The findings of this research hold tremendous promise in the field of UV sensing and can lead to exciting developments in military and civilian technology.

Ultrathin MoO₃ semiconductor nanostructures have garnered significant interest as a promising nanomaterial for transparent nano- and optoelectronics, owing to their exceptional reactivity. Due to the shortage of knowledge about the electronic and optoelectronic properties of MoO₃/n-Si via an ALD system of few nanometers, we utilized the preparation of an ultrathin MoO₃ film at temperatures of 100, 150, 200, and 250 °C. The effect of the depositing temperatures on using bis(tbutylimido)bis(dimethylamino)molybdenum (VI) as a molybdenum source for highly stable UV photodetectors were reported. The ON–OFF and the photodetector dynamic behaviors of these samples under different applied voltages of 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 V were collected. This study shows that the ultrasmooth and homogenous films of less than a 0.30 nm roughness deposited at 200 °C were used efficiently for high-performance UV photodetector behaviors with a high sheet carrier concentration of 7.6 × 10¹⁰ cm⁻² and external quantum efficiency of 1.72 × 10¹¹. The electronic parameters were analyzed based on thermionic emission theory, where Cheung and Nord’s methods were utilized to determine the photodetector electronic parameters, such as the ideality factor (n), barrier height (Φ₀), and series resistance (R_s). The n-factor values were higher in the low voltage region of the I–V diagram, potentially due to series resistance causing a voltage drop across the interfacial thin film and charge accumulation at the interface states between the MoO₃ and Si surfaces.

The application of the photonic superlattice in advanced photonics has become a demanding field, especially for two-dimensional and strongly correlated oxides. Because it experiences an abrupt metal-insulator transition near ambient temperature, where the electrical resistivity varies by orders of magnitude, vanadium oxide (VO2) shows potential as a building block for infrared switching and sensing devices. We reported a first principle study of superlattice structures of VO2 as a strongly correlated phase transition material and tungsten diselenide (WSe2) as a two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide layer. Based on first-principles calculations, we exploit the effect of semiconductor monoclinic and metallic tetragonal state of VO2 with WSe2 in a photonic superlattices structure through the near and mid-infrared (NIR-MIR) thermochromic phase transition regions. By increasing the thickness of the VO2 layer, the photonic bandgap (PhB) gets red-shifted. We observed linear dependence of the PhB width on the VO2 thickness. For the monoclinic case of VO2, the number of the forbidden bands increase with the number of layers of WSe2. New forbidden gaps are preferred to appear at a slight angle of incidence, and the wider one can predominate at larger angles. We presented an efficient way to control the flow of the NIR-MIR in both summer and winter environments for phase transition and photonic thermochromic applications. This study's findings may help understand vanadium oxide's role in tunable photonic superlattice for infrared switchable devices and optical filters.

This study was on the optoelectronic properties of multilayered two-dimensional MoS₂ and WS₂ materials on a silicon substrate using sputtering physical vapor deposition (PVD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques. For the first time, we report ultraviolet (UV) photoresponses under air, CO₂, and O₂ environments at different flow rates. The electrical Hall effect measurement showed the existence of MoS₂ (n-type)/Si (p-type) and WS₂ (P-type)/Si (p-type) heterojunctions with a higher sheet carrier concentration of 5.50 × 10⁵ cm⁻² for WS₂ thin film. The IV electrical results revealed that WS₂ is more reactive than MoS₂ film under different gas stimuli. WS₂ film showed high stability under different bias voltages, even at zero bias voltage, due to the noticeably good carrier mobility of 29.8 × 10² cm²/V. WS₂ film indicated a fast rise/decay time of 0.23/0.21 s under air while a faster response of 0.190/0.10 s under a CO₂ environment was observed. Additionally, the external quantum efficiency of WS₂ revealed a remarkable enhancement in the CO₂ environment of 1.62 × 10⁸ compared to MoS₂ film with 6.74 × 10⁶. According to our findings, the presence of CO₂ on the surface of WS₂ improves such optoelectronic properties as photocurrent gain, photoresponsivity, external quantum efficiency, and detectivity. These results indicate potential applications of WS₂ as a photodetector under gas stimuli for future optoelectronic applications.