Silicon nanowire network metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors

We report on the fabrication and characterization of solution-processed, highly flexible, silicon nanowire network based metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors. Both the active part of the device and the electrodes are made of nanowire networks that provide both flexibility and transparency. Fabricated photodetectors showed a fast dynamic response, 0.43 ms for the rise and 0.58 ms for the fall-time, with a decent on/off ratio of 20. The effect of nanowire-density on transmittance and light on/off behavior were both investigated. Flexible photodetectors, on the other hand, were fabricated on polyethyleneterephthalate substrates and showed similar photodetector characteristics upon bending down to a radius of 1 cm. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.