Enhancement in photodetection properties of Ag/CdS/Ag devices through novel rare-earth metal Tb doping

Herein, the effect of Terbium (Tb) doping on the photodetection properties of Ag/CdS/Ag devices have been elucidated. An enhancement in the photodetector performance was noted for Ag/Tb@CdS/Ag device in terms of amplified sensitivity of 592, improved responsivity of 3.64 A/W, and excellent detectivity of 6.39 × 1012 Jones in compared to pure Ag/CdS/Ag device with respective values of 192, 0.24 A/W and 7.98 × 1011 Jones. Moreover, the Tb-doped device exhibits a faster response time of 30 ms as compared to 421 ms for device with pure CdS. The enhancement in photodetector performance was explained through the change in conduction mechanism from Schottky in Ag/CdS/Ag to ohmic in Ag/Tb@CdS/Ag device.