Cover story：Shi X L, Liu H Y, Hou S, et al. The applications of surface plasmons in Ga2O3 ultraviolet photodetector[J]. Opto-Electronic Engineering, 2018, 45(2): 170728. 

Although UV radiation only accounts for less than 10% of the total solar radiation and most can be absorbed by stratospheric ozone, this part of UV radiation has a profound impact on the survival and development of humankind and the balance of the ecosystem. The research team of state key laboratory of electronic thin films and integrated devices, university of electronic science and technology of china, devote themselves to the study of wide-band semiconductor beta-Ga2O3 thin film ultraviolet photo-detector. In this work, it is investigated that the effect on both the Al nanoparticles fabricated by rapid thermal annealing and the characteristics of related UV photodetector. The average particles diameter is 23 nm. The study finds that beta-Ga2O3 based deep UV Photodetector with Al nanoparticles can effectively increase the responsivity and detectivity, as well as reduce the device’s background noise. The main reason is that the increased optical absorption induced by scattering into photo-detector due to the presence of Al nanoparticles. In addition, the enhance electromagnetic field surrounding the Al nanoparticles accelerate the separation of electron-hole pairs in the surface of beta- Ga2O3 epilayer. Besides, the beta- Ga2O3 surface is passivated by these surface-oxidized Al nanoparticles so that reducing the device’s background noise.