Surface Plasmon-Driven Hot Electron Flow Probed with Metal-Semiconductor Nanodiodes

A continuous flow of hot electrons that are not at thermal equilibrium with the surrounding metal atoms is generated by the absorption of photons. Here we show that hot electron flow generated on a gold thin film by photon absorption (or internal photoemission) is amplified by localized surface plas...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nano letters 2011-10, Vol.11 (10), p.4251-4255
Main Authors: Lee, Young Keun, Jung, Chan Ho, Park, Jonghyurk, Seo, Hyungtak, Somorjai, Gabor A, Park, Jeong Young
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Collective excitations (including excitons, polarons, plasmons and other charge-density excitations)
Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Electron and ion emission by liquids and solids
impact phenomena
Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures
Electronics
Exact sciences and technology
Gold
Hot electrons
Interfaces
Interfaces, heterostructures, nanostructures
Low-dimensional structures (superlattices, quantum well structures, multilayers): structure, and nonelectronic properties
Nanostructure
Photocurrent
Photoelectric effect
Photoemission and photoelectron spectra
Photons
Physics
Plasmons
Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices
Surface and interface electron states
Surfaces and interfaces
thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties)
Thin films
Titanium dioxide
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Summary:A continuous flow of hot electrons that are not at thermal equilibrium with the surrounding metal atoms is generated by the absorption of photons. Here we show that hot electron flow generated on a gold thin film by photon absorption (or internal photoemission) is amplified by localized surface plasmon resonance. This was achieved by direct measurement of photocurrent on a chemically modified gold thin film of metal-semiconductor (TiO2) Schottky diodes. The short-circuit photocurrent obtained with low-energy photons is consistent with Fowler’s law, confirming the presence of hot electron flows. The morphology of the metal thin film was modified to a connected gold island structure after heating such that it exhibits surface plasmon. Photocurrent and optical measurements on the connected island structures revealed the presence of a localized surface plasmon at 550 ± 20 nm. The results indicate an intrinsic correlation between the hot electron flow generated by internal photoemission and localized surface plasmon resonance.
ISSN:1530-6984
1530-6992
DOI:10.1021/nl2022459