Vacuum ultraviolet radiation (VUV, from 100 nm to 200 nm wavelength) is indispensable in many applications, but its detection is still challenging. We report the development of a VUV photoconductive detector, based on titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticle thin films. The effect of crystallinity, optical quality, and crystallite size due to film thickness (80 nm, 500 nm, 1000 nm) and type of substrate (silicon Si, quartz SiO2, soda lime glass SLG) was investigated to explore ways of enhancing the photoconductivity of the detector. The TiO2 film deposited on SiO2 substrate with a film thickness of 80 nm exhibited the best photoconductivity, with a photocurrent of 5.35 milli-Amperes and a photosensitivity of 99.99% for a bias voltage of 70 V. The wavelength response of the detector can be adjusted by changing the thickness of the film as the cut-off shifts to a longer wavelength, as the film becomes thicker. The response time of the TiO2 detector is about 5.8 μs and is comparable to the 5.4 μs response time of a diamond UV sensor. The development of the TiO2 nanoparticle thin film detector is expected to contribute to the enhancement of the use of VUV radiation in an increasing number of important technological and scientific applications.

Centre for Theoretical Chemistry and Physics School of Natural and Computational Sciences Massey University Auckland 0632 New Zealand

Department of Low Temperature Plasma Institute of Physics Czech Academy of Sciences Na Slovance 2 182 21 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Physical Science and Engineering Nagoya Institute of Technology Nagoya 466 8555 Aichi Japan

Institute of Laser Engineering Osaka University 2 6 Yamadaoka Suita 565 0871 Osaka Japan

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