Effect of Metal Nanoparticles in the Field Emission of Silicon Nanowires

Abstract

In this work, an efficient method is reported for creating a metal nanoparticle (silver) / Si composite structure consisting of a vertical array of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) decorated with silver metal nanoparticles. A two-stage metal-assisted etching method is employed to obtain SiNWs and Silver (Ag) metal nanoparticles are decorated on the SiNWs using the electroless deposition method. It allows the good coverage of silver metal nanoparticles over SiNWs. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed that Ag was covered with SiNWs. High-work function metal nanoparticles such as Ag nanoparticles on SiNWs have been utilized in different applications such as photovoltaics and sensors. The size of SiNWs is determined through the Raman shift. The silicon optical phonon peak showed an increase in redshift and a decrease of full-width at half maxima with a decrease in diameter due to the quantum confinement. The Electron Field Emission (EFE) characteristics of the Agdecorated SiNW films were studied based on the current-voltage measurements and analyzed using the Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) equation. The low turn-on field is obtained through the Ag metal nanoparticles which have wider applications in lowpower operational devices.