Responsivity improvement in PbS colloidal quantum dot photoconductors using colloidal gold nanoparticles

A study is presented on improving the absorption of the PbS colloidal quantum dot (CQD) films using plasmonic scattering. Unlike previous methods that include high temperature annealing, an integrated circuits (IC) compatible method of introducing colloidal gold nanoparticles to PbS film during the spin deposition process is developed. The devices are composed of eight layers of PbS and gold nanoparticles are spin cast after the fourth layer that places them in the middle, sandwiched between PbS films in order to avoid electrical shorts between the fingers. Two different solutions of gold nanoparticles in citrate, 0.1% and 0.01%, are used to fabricate two different devices. Introducing 0.01% Au nanoparticles in PbS film increases the responsivity 2.6-fold, whereas introducing 0.1% Au nanoparticles results in a 6.5-fold increase in responsivity.