Specific features of the photoelectric properties of structures based on mesoporous silicon with silver nanoparticles

Electrical and photoelectric properties of porous silicon with introduced silver nanoparticles have been studied. It is shown that in the “dark–light–dark” operation mode, an abrupt jump of the dark current is observed upon illumination (with light spectrally close to sunlight), which is three to five times the initial dark current and the photocurrent. The voltages at which these abrupt changes in current are observed correspond to the range of existence of traps formed when the starting mesoporous silicon is obtained. It was found that the increased value of the dark current exhibits a long-term memory effect. The “current jump” can be attributed to the maximum capture of the generated photocarriers by traps, followed by their release in an electric field after the illumination.