Toward Plasmonic Tunnel Gaps for Nanoscale Photoemission Currents by On-Chip Laser Ablation

Abstract

We demonstrate that prestructured metal nanogaps can be shaped on-chip to below 10 nm by femtosecond laser ablation. We explore the plasmonic properties and the nonlinear photocurrent characteristics of the formed tunnel junctions. The photocurrent can be tuned from multiphoton absorption toward the laser-induced strong-field tunneling regime in the nanogaps. We demonstrate that a unipolar ballistic electron current is achieved by designing the plasmonic junctions to be asymmetric, which allows ultrafast electronics on the nanometer scale.

A Universal Method to Enhance Flexibility and Stability of Organic Solar Cells by Constructing Insulating Matrices in Active Layers

“…It can be inferred that such materials as supporting matrices in the BHJ layers exhibit efficient tunneling effect at the interfaces, which is a common phenomenon in tunnel diode devices and interfacial materials (such as LiF and Ga 2 O 3 ) for photodiodes and perovskite solar cells. [ 63,71–77 ]…”

“…Based on previous reports and our results, the probability of tunneling is related to the thickness of insulating matrices when the photogenerated voltage is constant. [ 74,75,77 ] By controlling the content of PAEF resin and post‐treatment condition of OSCs, the charge transfer in the BHJ layers could cross the PAEF matrices with less negative effects. Under such circumstances, the advantages of PAEF resin in mechanical and thermal properties may be utilized in OSCs.…”

Fabrication of plasmonic dye-sensitized solar cells using ion-implanted photoanodes

“…Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), a unique characteristic of metal nanoparticles (Mnps) that arises due to the collective oscillations of free electrons in metals and their surrounding dielectric medium, has been extensively investigated in various applications such as in photocatalysis, 1,2 electrochemistry, 3,4 photovoltaics, 5,6 water-splitting, 7,8 light-emitting diodes, 9,10 sensing, 11,12 and plasmouidics. 13,14 In photovoltaic devices, the plasmonic Mnps induce a stronger near-eld coupling at the Mnps and semiconductor interface upon interaction with the incident light.…”

Dual‐Electromagnetic Field Enhancements through Suspended Metal/Dielectric/Metal Nanostructures and Plastic Phthalates Detection in Child Urine

“…By tuning the electron affinity (EA) of dielectric spacers, the tunneling barrier height, which is defined by the difference between the Fermi level of a metal and the EA of the dielectric layer, can be more precisely adjusted over a broad range . Through the optimization of the tunneling barrier width decided by doubling the dielectric film's thickness and tunneling barrier height, the maximum enhancement of an EM field determined by both the classical EM theory and quantum mechanics can be obtained . On the other hand, due to their relatively high refractive index, the supporting substrates have a significant influence on the plasmon mode, which is originally excited at the metal/air interface .…”