Performance of silver-plated silicon photodetector in near infrared band

According to the measured characteristics of the Ag/n-Si Schottky photodetector, it is confirmed that the device can detect near infrared light and the Schottky barrier height can be obtained by a simple method from the I-V curve. Because of Fermi level pinning, the barrier height calculated by Schottky Mott theory will differ from the real Schottky barrier height. Similarly, the cutoff wavelength that could be detected will be different. Maximum absorption at 1550 nm takes place when light is incident on the semiconductor side of the device. Furthermore, it is found that the barrier height of the Schottky photodetector will gradually decrease as the power of near infrared light lighted on the device increases. It can be explained by image force barrier lowering theory. Thus, silicon based Schottky photodetectors can be used for a wide range of applications in the near infrared range.