Enhanced UV sensitivity and low-frequency noise performance in RF-sputtered indium gallium oxide thin-film photodetectors

High-performance ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors are increasingly in demand for applications such as environmental monitoring, flame detection, biomedical sensing, and wearable optoelectronic systems. To address these needs, this study employs radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering to deposit indium gallium oxide (IGO) thin films, which are then used to fabricate metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) UV photodetectors. Benefiting from the excellent optical transmittance and charge transport properties of IGO, the devices exhibit strong UV sensitivity and low-noise operation. Under a bias voltage of 2[Formula: see text]V, the photodetectors achieve a responsivity of 8.12[Formula: see text]A/W, a photocurrent-to-dark current ratio of [Formula: see text], a specific detectivity (D*) of [Formula: see text]/W, and a noise equivalent power (NEP) as low as [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]W. These results demonstrate that IGO-based MSM photodetectors are promising candidates for next-generation UV sensing platforms, offering a reliable pathway toward highly sensitive, spectrally selective, and low-noise detection technologies.