High quality Mn-Co-Ni-O based infrared detectors enhanced by Pt nanoparticle decoration

Abstract

The work developed a series of infrared detectors based on the Mn-Co-Ni-O (MCNO) films, which were grown using a radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering technique. It was observed that the characteristics of MCNO films were significantly impacted by the annealing temperature. Elevating the in-situ annealing temperature from 550 to 750 °C improved the performances of MCNO films. Additionally, it was found that in situ annealing was more advantageous than ex-situ annealing of 750 °C for the properties of MCNO films. The response value (light to dark) increased from 2.5 to 17.7 at 15 V bias, representing a 6.08-fold enhancement, and the response time decreased to 11.8 ms from 19.9 ms. Furthermore, sputtering Pt nanoparticles on the surface of the MCNO film further improved the I-V characteristics in the dark, resulting in a high on/off ratio of 38.15, which is five times higher than that without the Pt nanoparticles modification. This impressive improvement in photoproperties can be attributed to the Pt nanoparticles/MCNO film barrier, plasma resonance effect generated by the Pt nanoparticles, the extinction of the Pt nanoparticles, and the reduction of surface resistance caused by the Pt nanoparticles. This highlights the potential of metal nanoparticles in the development of infrared detectors.