Ultra-High and Fast Ultraviolet Response Photodetectors Based on Lateral Porous GaN/Ag Nanowires Composite Nanostructure

Composite nanostructures with plasmonic metals can introduce optical resonances and enhance optoelectronic performance significantly. In this work, novel lateral porous GaN/Ag nanowires (NWs) composite nanostructure-based UV photodetectors were designed and fabricated, and the detectivity is up to 10(15) Jones at V = 1 V with a fast response speed of approximate to 180 mu s under UV illumination, which is more than approximate to 10(5) times faster than that of the photodetectors without Ag NWs. Combined with finite-difference time-domain simulations, the results show that such superior performance is mainly attributed to the surface plasmon resonance effect, which leads to a strong light trapping and efficient carriers' transport process at the lateral porous GaN/Ag NWs interfaces. This approach paves a way to realize ultra-sensitive UV photodetectors with fast response through plasmonic metal/semiconductor nanocomposites, which are desirable for applications in optical switches, optical logical operations, and lightwave communications.