Ii bas long been known that when a metal is placed in contact with a semiconductor a rectUying contact often results. This rectmcation is a result of an energy barrier between the metal and the semiconductor. Jn order to form a nonrectUying or ohmic contact, two general approaches can be applied: either (1) the barrier energy can be reduced to a low enough value that the thermally excited curre...

We investigate surface plasmon-polariton SPP propagation in a metal-semiconductor-metal structure where semiconductor is highly excited to have an optical gain. We show that near the SPP resonance, the imaginary part of the propagation wave vector changes from positive to hugely negative, corresponding to an amplified SPP propagation. The SPP mode experiences an unexpected giant modal gain that...

To enhance terahertz emission from an optically excited semiconductor surface, we propose to sandwich a thin (as compared to the terahertz wavelength) semiconductor layer between a dielectric hyperhemispherical lens and metal substrate. The layer is excited through the lens. The substrate provides constructive interference of terahertz waves emitted to the lens directly from the layer and refle...

The production of hydrogen from water with semiconductor photocatalysts can be promoted by adding small amounts of metals to their surfaces. The resulting enhancement in photocatalytic activity is commonly attributed to a fast transfer of the excited electrons generated by photon absorption from the semiconductor to the metal, a step that prevents deexcitation back to the ground electronic stat...

This work presents results of the investigation of admittance of metal-insulator-semiconductor structure based on Hg1 - x Cd x Te grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The structure contains a single quantum well Hg0.35Cd0.65Te/HgTe/Hg0.35Cd0.65Te with thickness of 5.6 nm in the sub-surface layer of the semiconductor. Both the conductance-voltage and capacitance-voltage characteristics show strong o...

We demonstrate near-unity, broadband absorbing optoelectronic devices using sub-15 nm thick transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) of molybdenum and tungsten as van der Waals semiconductor active layers. Specifically, we report that near-unity light absorption is possible in extremely thin (<15 nm) van der Waals semiconductor structures by coupling to strongly damped optical modes of semicond...

Control of charge carrier distribution in a gated channel via a dielectric layer is currently the state of the art in the design of integrated circuits such as field effect transistors. Replacing linear dielectrics with ferroelectrics would ultimately lead to more energy efficient devices as well as the added advantage of the memory function of the gate. Here, we report that the channel-off/cha...

Unique kinked semiconductor-metal Au-Ag2S-ZnS and Au-Ag2S-ZnS-Au heteronanorods have been synthesized for the first time by a seed-mediated growth method. A plausible mechanism for the formation of kinked heteronanorods is proposed. The catalytic activity of such novel kinked semiconductor-metal heteronanorods with selective deposition and uniform morphology is also investigated via a model rea...