High Sensitivity Ultraviolet Light Off-Stoichiometric Silicon Oxide-Based Sensors

Abstract

We have developed a UV silicon detector made of silicon and off-stoichiometric silicon dioxide that shows high efficiency and is completely compatible with silicon devices technology. The silicon-based UV detector present a solar cell-like structure which does not require any voltage source. In addition, an off-stoichiometric silicon dioxide film (Silicon Rich Oxide) with silicon nanocrystals has been integrated to this structure. It is shown that the spectral response is due to the high photoluminescence of Si nanocrystals in the visible region when illuminated with UV light and an increase of 100% in the UV detector efficiency is observed with respect to conventional silicon dioxide layers.

Keywords

• Silicon Rich Oxide
• UV detectors
• Si nanocrystals
• solar cell-like structure