Minority carrier diffusion length in interface-confined PbS colloidal quantum dot (CQD): Effect of CQD surface modification on diffusion length in ultrathin PbS CQD films

Abstract

Photocurrent microscopy (PCM) is a versatile tool for probing charge carrier transport associated with energy band bending at an interface. For the first time, we report the ligand-dependent electronic properties of interface-confined colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) near a metal electrode and gate dielectric layers using ultrathin lead sulfide (PbS) CQD films embedded in field effect transistors (FETs). We have compared the minority carrier (electron) diffusion length (MCDL) of ultrathin PbS CQD films treated with 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT) and ammonium sulfide ((NH4)2S) using a bottom-contact FET structure in combination with PCM. We found that the MCDL was greater in the EDT-treated PbS CQDs than in the (NH4)2S-treated PbS CQDs. The MCDL at the 2D carrier accumulation layer was observed to depend on the concentration of the majority carrier (hole). During effective electrical channel formation by electrical gating, the MCDL decreased with hole accumulation (decreasing gate voltage) in the p-channel (NH4)2S-treated PbS CQD FET, whereas it remained similar in the EDT-treated PbS CQD FET. The effect of the majority carrier concentration on the MCDL was more pronounced in the (NH4)2S-treated sample than in the EDT-treated sample. The difference in the MCDL is attributed to a difference in the surface trap density caused by different ligand treatments.