One-Dimensional Silicon Nano-/microstructures Based Opto-Electronic Devices

 

Prof. Dr. Hakan Karaağaç, Department of Physics Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, Istanbul, 34469, Turkey

Dr. Elif Peksu, Department of Physics Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, Istanbul, 34469, Turkey and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

Dr. Badriyah Alhalaili, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA, and Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Program, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Safat, 13109, Kuwait

Prof. Dr. M. Saif Islam, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

 

The book chapter titled 'One-Dimensional Silicon Nano-/microstructures Based Opto-Electronic Devices' was published in ‘Progress in Nanoscale and Low-Dimensional Materials and Devices.' (Part of the Topics in Applied Physics book series, vol 144. Springer, Cham) by Istanbul Technical University Department of Physics Engineering member Prof. Dr. Hakan Karaağaç.

 

One-dimensional (1D) nanostructures, including nanorods, nanowiskers, nanowires, nanotubes and nanobelts, have been receiving a great deal of research attention from industry and academia in recent years. Due to their special and outstanding many characteristics, such as effective light–trapping ability, bandgap tunability, efficient charge carrier collection, high carrier mobility, large surface-to-volume ratio and excellent thermal conductivity, such nanostructures play a very important role in the manufacture of high-performance devices with novel functionalities. To date, a number of materials, such as TiO2 (titanium-oxide), ZnO2 (zinc-oxide), Si (silicon), C (carbon), Ga2O3 (gallium oxide) and SnO2 (tin-oxide), have been employed in the production of one-dimensional 1D structures for the fabrication of high-performance electronic and opto-electronic devices. Among them, silicon (Si) is particularly attractive material for a wide range of opto-electronic device application owing to its highly developed technology and outstanding features such as high thermal conductivity, facile doping control, hardness and excellent optical and electrical properties. In this chapter, although we discuss the recent advances in optoelectronic applications of 1D Si nano-/microstructures, it focuses mainly on our own recent studies based on the synthesis of ordered and disordered Si-nanowires/micropillars and their applications in photodetection and harvesting solar energy. In particular, a special focus will be given on the fabrication of Si nano-/microstructures based solar cells with transferred 1D nano-/microstructures from Si-wafer to glass substrates via using a fracture-transfer printing technique, which have demonstrated the possibility of the fabrication of low-cost, transparent, flexible and high-efficient next generation 1D Si nano-/microstructures based next generation opto-electronic devices.