Enhancement of photoconductive performance of CdSe via Yb nanosandwiching

In this work, we have explored the effects of the ytterbium nanosandwiching on the structural and optoelectronic properties of CdSe thin films. A ytterbium layer of thickness of 200 nm was sandwiched between two layers of CdSe (1.0 μm). The structural investigations have shown that the hexagonal structure of CdSe is deformed by 1.9% and 0.8% along the a and c-axes, respectively, by the inclusion of the Yb in the structure of CdSe. In addition, a systematic redshifts in the interference patterns of the optical transmittance and reflectance were observed. Accordingly, the optical absorption coefficient spectra of CdSe which displayed two energy gap values of 1.62 and 1.36 eV, are also redshifted. On the other hand, when exposed to blue light irradiation, the steady state and time dependent photocurrent analysis revealed a remarkable enhancement presented by a three orders of magnitude increase in the responsivity of CdSe upon Yb sandwiching. The photocurrent was observed to be limited by the saturation of the surface states and traps that causes longer relaxation constant compared to that of pure CdSe.