basish De

A Novel Room Temperature Ammonia Gas Sensor Based on Diamond-Like Nanocomposite/c-Silicon Heterojunction

Thin amorphous diamond-like nanocomposite (a-DLN) films are deposited on p-type crystalline silicon (c-Si) by plasma assisted chemical vapour deposition (PACVD) technique to use it as an ammonia (NH3) gas sensor operable at room temperature. The non-linear current–voltage (I–V) characteristic of a-DLN/c-Si heterojunction shows a very good rectifying property of the junction in air and quick sensitivity in NH3 gas at room temperature. The current output in reverse biased condition of the a-DLN/c-Si heterojunction is ~ 15 times higher in NH3 than in air. Sensor also shows a good recovery property to the original state, even at room temperature. Sensing material is characterized by using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and UV–VIS Near-IR Spectroscopy, to understand the sensing behaviour.

Encapsulation of SiNWs Array with Diamond-like Nanocomposite Thin Film for Ultra-low Reflection

Silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays were synthesized using single step metal assisted chemical etching (SSMACE) method on n-type mono crystalline silicon. The effect of encapsulation of SiNW arrays with diamond-like nanocomposite (DLN) deposited by plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (PACVD) method has been investigated. The structural and optical properties of SiNW and DLN thin film has been studied using FESEM, FTIR and UV–VIS-NIR spectroscopy. A very low (3–4 %) and high broadband (300–1,000 nm) reflection has been achieved from SiNWs array. However, after deposition of DLN thin film on nanowire array, the reflection further reduces significantly to 1.7 %. The SiNW arrays encapsulated with DLN thin film has a great potential to use in solar cell.