Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Science and Technology
In News:
Recently, scientists from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) have fabricated a wafer-scale photodetector (thin slice-based) device, using gold-silicon interface.
JNCASR is an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
Key takeaways:
The gold (Au)-silicon (n-Si) interface shows high sensitivity towards light.
The Au-Si interface was brought about by galvanic deposition (a technique for electroplating of metals) wherein water-based solutions (electrolytes) are used, which contain the metals to be deposited as ions.
Important value additions:
Photodetectors
These are an important part of an opto-electronic circuit that can detect light.
Their applications include:
Controlling automatic lighting in supermarkets.
Being used in security-related applications.
Photodetectors are unaffordable for daily applications due to high material costs.
Au-Si interface Photodetectors has many advantages:
The fabricating process is quick and simple.
The method is highly economical since it is a solution-based technique.
It can detect weak scattered light as an indication of unwanted activity.
The device does not require external power to operate and runs on self-operated mode.
