High performance of hot-carrier generation, transport and injection in TiN/TiO2 junction
Tingting Liu1,2, Qianjun Wang3, Cheng Zhang1,2, Xiaofeng Li1,2(), Jun Hu3,4()
1. School of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China 2. Key Lab of Advanced Optical Manufacturing Technologies of Jiangsu Province & Key Lab of Modern Optical Technologies of Education Ministry of China, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China 3. School of Physical Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China 4. School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Improving the performance of generation, transport and injection of hot carriers within metal/semiconductor junctions is critical for promoting the hot-carrier applications. However, the conversion efficiency of hot carriers in the commonly used noble metals (e.g., Au) is extremely low. Herein, through a systematic study by first-principles calculation and Monte Carlo simulation, we show that TiN might be a promising plasmonic material for high-efficiency hot-carrier applications. Compared with Au, TiN shows obvious advantages in the generation (high density of low-energy hot electrons) and transport (long lifetime and mean free path) of hot carriers. We further performed a device-oriented study, which reveals that high hot-carrier injection efficiency can be achieved in core/shell cylindrical TiN/TiO2 junctions. Our findings provide a deep insight into the intrinsic processes of hot-carrier generation, transport and injection, which is helpful for the development of hot-carrier devices and applications.
. [J]. Frontiers of Physics, 2022, 17(5): 53509.
Tingting Liu, Qianjun Wang, Cheng Zhang, Xiaofeng Li, Jun Hu. High performance of hot-carrier generation, transport and injection in TiN/TiO2 junction. Front. Phys. , 2022, 17(5): 53509.
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