@article {6789,
	title = {Novel solar-blind ultraviolet photodetector based on inserting sputtered ITO ultrathin film for integrated silicon photonics platform},
	journal = {Superlattices and Microstructures },
	volume = {143},
	year = {2020},
	abstract = {
	In this paper, a new\&nbsp;UV-photodetector\&nbsp;(UV PD)\&nbsp;design based on non-hydrogenated amorphous-silicon (a-Si) was fabricated using\&nbsp;RF\&nbsp;magnetron sputtering\&nbsp;technique. The proposed structure consists on sputtering an\&nbsp;ITO\&nbsp;thin-film acting as a passivation layer on the\&nbsp;a-Si\&nbsp;layer to form a\&nbsp;heterostructure\&nbsp;design compatible with silicon photonics technology.\&nbsp;X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and\&nbsp;UV{\textendash}Vis\&nbsp;spectra were carried out to assess the device structural and optical properties. Measurements emphasized the amorphous state of the sputtered\&nbsp;Si\&nbsp;thin-film. Interestingly, it was found that the elaborated device shows an exciting\&nbsp;UV\&nbsp;absorption capability (over than\&nbsp;95\%) with drastically reduced visible photoresponse. The elaborated\&nbsp;ITO/a-Si UV PD\&nbsp;exhibits an ultra-low dark current less than\&nbsp;1\&nbsp;pA, a good responsivity of\&nbsp;0.13 A/W and a high\&nbsp;ION/IOFF\&nbsp;ratio of\&nbsp;2.5\&nbsp;{\texttimes}\&nbsp;104. Besides, the device demonstrates a high\&nbsp;UV-to-Vis\&nbsp;ratio exceeding\&nbsp;2.3\&nbsp;{\texttimes}\&nbsp;103, thus confirming its visible blindness property. These enhancements are attributed to the role of\&nbsp;ITO/a-Si\&nbsp;heterostructure\&nbsp;in promoting near-perfect\&nbsp;UV\&nbsp;absorption. In addition, this structure generates an electric field acting as effective driving force of the photo-induced\&nbsp;e/h\&nbsp;pairs, which leads to enhance the device generation/collection efficiency. Therefore, the use of\&nbsp;ITO/a-Si\&nbsp;design opens up new pathways for designing novel solar-blind\&nbsp;UV PDs\&nbsp;potentially appropriate for integrated silicon photonics technology.

},
	url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S074960362030224X},
	author = {Hichem Ferhati and Fay{\c c}al Djeffal and Bendjerad, Adel and A Saidi and Benhaya, Abdelhamid}
}
