Proton radiation effect on GaAs/AlGaAs core–shell ensemble nanowires photo-detector.

We demonstrate that the GaAs/AlGaAs nanowires (NWs) ensemble is fabricated into photo-detectors. Current–voltage (I–V) characteristics are measured on GaAs/AlGaAs core–shell ensemble NW photo-detectors at room-temperature before and after 1-MeV proton irradiation with fluences from cm to cm. The degradation of photocurrent suggests that the point defects induced by proton radiation could cause both carrier lifetime and carrier mobility to decrease synchronously. Comparing with a GaAs quantum well, the degradations of light and dark current for the irradiated NWs photo-detector indicate that NWs material is a preferable potential candidate for space applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]