High-gain Photodetector Research Articles

Trap-assisted monolayer ReSe2/Si heterojunction with high photoconductive gain and self-driven broadband photodetector.

The development of photodetectors is crucial in fields such as optical communication, image sensing, medical devices and military equipment, where high sensitivity is paramount. We fabricated an ambipolar photodiode using monolayer triclinic ReSe2, synthesized by chemical vapor deposition on p-type Si substrate. The photodetector has a broadband response range from 405 to 1100 nm. The device exhibits high sensitivity to NIR radiation with a high Iph/Idark (ON/OFF) ratio of 5.8 × 104, responsivity (R) of 465 A/W, and specific detectivity (D) of 4.8 × 1013 Jones at open circuit voltage (Voc), indicating photovoltaic behavior. Our ReSe2/Si heterojunction photodetector also exhibits low dark current of 1.4 × 10-9 A and high external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 54368.2% for 1060 nm at -3 V, demonstrating a photoconductive gain. The maximum responsivity (R = 465 A/W) can be achieved at -3 V reverse bias under 1060 nm. The device has a high ideality factor (4.8) and power coefficient (α = 0.5), indicating the presence of interface and sub-gap states that enhance device responsivity at lower illumination intensities by re-exciting trapped carriers into the conduction band. Our results offer important insights into the underlying photo-physics of the ReSe2/Si heterojunction and propose promising avenues for developing advanced broadband photodetectors of high performance.

Carrier-recirculating broadband photodetector with high gain based on van der Waals In2Se3/MoS2 heterostructure

Two-dimensional (2D) materials present enormous potential in photoelectric detection, medical imaging, and neuromorphic vision applications due to their superior electronic and optoelectronic properties. Nevertheless, the photoelectric performance is restricted by the short lifetime of photogenerated carriers and weak optical absorption attributed to the atomic-scale thickness. This work demonstrates a novel high-gain photodetector based on van der Waals β-In2Se3/MoS2 heterostructure induced by carrier recirculation. In this structure, the photoexcited holes are trapped in the charge traps of MoS2 driven by the built-in electric field, which suppresses the recombination of photogenerated carriers, thus the electrons are repeatedly recycled across the In2Se3 channel after the generation of electron-hole pairs, achieving the high optical gain of 2.95 × 103. The responsivity, external quantum efficiency and specific detectivity of In2Se3/MoS2 photodetector can reach 616.77 A/W, 125900 %, and 1.03 × 1012 Jones at 638 nm, respectively, which are significantly higher than those of individual In2Se3 and MoS2 photodetector. More significantly, due to the enhanced optical absorption and interlayer transition, the photoresponse spectrum of In2Se3/MoS2 heterojunction is further extended to 1310 nm, which can be applied to broadband photodetection. Therefore, the In2Se3/MoS2 vdWs heterojunction photodetector provides a feasible approach to fabricate high-performance broadband photodetectors.

Carrier Recirculation Induced High-Gain Photodetector Based on van der Waals Heterojunction.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted great attention in the field of photodetection due to their excellent electronic and optoelectronic properties. However, the weak optical absorption caused by atomically thin layers and the short lifetime of photocarriers limit their optoelectronic performance, especially for weak light detection. In this work, we design a high-gain photodetector induced by carrier recirculation based on a vertical InSe/GaSe heterojunction. In this architecture, the photogenerated holes are trapped in GaSe due to the built-in electric field, suppressing the recombination rate of photocarriers, so the electrons can recirculate for multiple times in the InSe channel following the generation of a single electron-hole pair, resulting a high photoconductive gain (107). The responsivity and detectivity of the InSe/GaSe heterojunction can reach 1037 A/W and 8.6 × 1013 Jones, which are 1 order of magnitude higher than those of individual InSe. More importantly, the InSe/GaSe heterojunction can respond to weaker light (1 μW/cm2) compared to individual InSe (10 μW/cm2). Utilizing GaSe as the channel and InSe as the electrons trapped layer, the same experimental phenomenon is achieved. This work can provide an approach for designing a highly sensitive device utilizing a 2D van der Waals heterojunction, and it also possesses wide applicability for other materials.

Homodyne time-of-flight acousto-optic imaging for low-gain photodetector.

Acousto-optics imaging (AOI) is a hybrid imaging modality that is capable of mapping the light fluence rate in deep tissue by local ultrasound modulation of the diffused photons. Since the intensity of the modulated photons is relatively low, AOI systems often rely on high-gain photodetectors, e.g. photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), which limit scalability due to size and cost and may significantly increase the relative shot-noise in the detected signal due to low quantum yields or gain noise. In this work, we have developed a homodyne AOI scheme in which the modulated photons are amplified by interference with a reference beam, enabling their detection with a single low-gain photodetector in reflection-mode configuration. We experimentally demonstrate our approach with a silicon photodiode, achieving over a 4-fold improvement in SNR in comparison to a PMT-based setup. The increased SNR manifested in lower background noise level thus enabling deeper imaging depths. The use of a fiber-based configuration enables the integration of our scheme in a hand-held AOI probe.

Analytical Transient Responses and Gain-Bandwidth Products of Low-Dimensional High-Gain Photodetectors.

Low-dimensional photodetectors, in particular those in photoconductive mode, often have extraordinarily high photogain. However, high gain always comes along with a slow frequency response. The gain-bandwidth product (GBP) is a figure of merit to evaluate the performance of a photodetector. Whether the high-gain photoconductors can outperform standard PIN photodiodes in terms of GBP remains an open question. In this article, we derived the analytical transient photoresponses of nanowire photoconductors which were validated with the simulations and experiments. Surprisingly, the fall transients do not follow a simple time-dependent exponential function except for some special cases. Given the analytical photogains that were established previously, we derived the theoretical GBP of high-gain nanowire photoconductors. Analysis of the analytical GBP indicates that nanoscale photoconductors, although having extremely high gain, will never outperform typical PIN photodiodes in terms of GBP.

High Gain and Broadband Absorption Graphene Photodetector Decorated with Bi2Te3 Nanowires.

A graphene photodetector decorated with Bi2Te3 nanowires (NWs) with a high gain of up to 3 × 104 and wide bandwidth window (400–2200 nm) has been demonstrated. The photoconductive gain was improved by two orders of magnitude compared to the gain of a photodetector using a graphene/Bi2Te3 nanoplate junction. Additionally, the position of photocurrent generation was investigated at the graphene/Bi2Te3 NWs junction. Eventually, with low bandgap Bi2Te3 NWs and a graphene junction, the photoresponsivity improved by 200% at 2200 nm (~0.09 mA/W).

高增益红外单光子探测技术研究进展（特邀）

Ultra-sensitive single-photon detection is a key technology for the development of optical quantum information and quantum manipulation. It is of important scientific significance and application value to realize high-efficiency, high-sensitivity, low-power and low-cost single-photon photodetectors. There is still a large gap between visible single-photon detector based on silicon and infrared ones in terms of the cost and performance. Exploring the technology of infrared single-photon detection with novel materials and mechanism has become the urgent needs in the field of photodetection. In recent years, low-dimensional materials have offered a new possibility for realizing high-gain, room-temperature and broad-band photodetectors due to their unique physical and chemical properties. The research on the low-dimensional materials based photodetectors with good performance has also become a hot topic in the field of infrared photodetection. In this review, the basic principles of traditional avalanche infrared photodetectors were introduced firstly. On this basis, the latest development of avalanche devices based on novel low-dimensional materials was summarized. Then the new gain amplification mechanism of the photodetector based on photogating effect was discussed and the structure as well as the performance of the devices were reviewed. Finally, the future developing directions and challenges of the infrared single-photon detection technology were prospected.

When shot-noise-limited photodetectors disobey Poisson statistics.

Photodetectors with internal gain are of great interest for imaging applications, since internal gain reduces the effective noise of readout electronics. High-gain photodetectors have been demonstrated, but only individually rather than as a full array in a camera. Consequently, there has been little investigation of the interaction between camera complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) electronics and the slow response time that high-gain photodetectors often exhibit. Here we show that this interaction filters shot noise and causes noise statistics to differ from the common Poisson distribution. As an example, we investigate a 320×256 array of InGaAs/InP high-gain phototransistors bonded to a CMOS readout chip. We demonstrate the filtering effects and discuss their consequences, including new (to the best of our knowledge) methods for extracting gain and increasing dynamic range.

High performance timing detectors for high energy physics experiments and new developments for the high luminosity LHC

In recent years precision timing detectors have increasingly captured the interest of the particle physicists, for their potential as time of flight detectors in high luminosity collider experiments as the LHC. In Phase-1 of the LHC, the experiments have exploited a global event description, making use of all subdetector information (tracks, calorimeter hits and muon chamber hits) to optimize the particle energy and position measurement depending on the particle type. This technique usually referred to as “particle flow” has a beneficial effect particularly on the jet energy and on the missing transverse energy resolution. In 2025 a new phase of the Large Hadron Collider will begin with increased instantaneous luminosity (HL-LHC) and a number of concurrent proton-proton interactions per bunch crossing as high as 200. Therefore the events will have very high vertex and track density, and high hit occupancy will be detected in the calorimeters. Hence the need to exploit additional measurement, like the timing information, for the track to vertex matching algorithms and for the association of calorimeter hits to tracks, in order to be able to efficiently use the particle flow technique in these harsher conditions. This lecture reviews the existing detectors with fast and precise timing measurement as well as the physics motivation for their use. It will introduce the various detector technologies able to achieve high performance in timing: Micro-channel plates, scintillation crystals coupled to high gain photodetectors, and silicon based detectors as Low Gain Avalanche devices.

Controlled synthesis of GaSe microbelts for high-gain photodetectors induced by the electron trapping effect

A GaSe microbelt-based photodetector has been realized with a high responsivity of ∼3866 A W−1 and a photoconductive gain of up to ∼1.06 × 104, which are attributed to the built-in electric field between the GaSe microbelt and the surface GaOx layer.

ZnO nanorods array as light absorption antenna for high-gain UV photodetectors

Hydrothermal method provides the advantages of simple, low-temperature growth conditions, low cost and large surface areas for the samples. Also, exciton dissociation can be enhanced by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) due to the plasmonic absorption enhancement of incident light. In this paper, high-gain ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors based on vertically aligned ZnO nanorods (ZnO-NRs) array as light absorption antenna were presented, in which ZnO-NRs array was prepared by hydrothermal method. Our experimental data showed that the device performance of the UV photodetector Au/ZnO(ZnO-NRs:Au-NPs)/Au can be further enhanced after the gaps of ZnO-NRs array were filled with Au nanoparticles (Au-NPs). The photo-to-dark current ratio and the specific detectivity of the UV photodetector Au/ZnO(ZnO-NRs:Au-NPs)/Au reached to 1 × 105 and 1.84 × 1013 Jones at 2 V under 100 μW/cm2 365 nm illumination, respectively. The physical mechanism for the enhanced performance of the UV photodetectors is discussed.

Preparation of AZO:PDIN hybrid interlayer materials and application in high-gain polymer photodetectors with spectral response from 300 nm to 1700 nm

Abstract Inorganic-organic hybrid interlayer materials were prepared using aluminum doped ZnO nanoparticles (AZO) and amine-containing perylene diimide (PDIN). By employing this hybrid material as cathode interlayer and BCP as anode interlayer, high-gain polymer photodetectors have been realized. The low-bandgap polymer PB-D-T-TPT photodetector exhibited a significant increase in EQE as large as 25982% (−2.0 V, 360 nm), large responsivity of 77.2 A/W (−2.0 V, 830 nm) and high detectivity of >1012 Jones (All the specific detectivity in this paper were calculated from EQE and dark current.) over a broad spectral region (300–1700 nm). Using the same hybrid cathode interlayer, the devices based on P3HT and PTII-TT polymers also showed detectivity of >1015 Jones in 330–640 nm and >1012 Jones in 320–1600 nm, respectively, further demonstrating a unique ability of AZO:PDIN hybrid interlayer to improve the performance of polymer photodetectors.

Optically coupled engineered upconversion nanoparticles and graphene for a high responsivity broadband photodetector.

A hybrid upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP)-graphene composite is demonstrated as a high-sensitivity and high-gain photodetector. The 980 nm multiphoton absorbing UCNPs are used as the photoabsorber, and optimized graphene is used as an efficient charge transporter. Although this device class is in its infancy, we show how critical engineering of the UCNPs, with a silica (SiO2) shell, helps to couple it optically with graphene to get a superior device. This initial report of UCNP-graphene optical coupling is expressed as fluorescence enhancement/quenching of the former in the presence of the latter. While the published literature relies mostly on fluorescence quenching in the UCNPs, our devices use both fluorescence quenching (using core UCNPs), and enhancement (using UCNP@SiO2) to significantly enhance the detector parameters. For example, the photoresponsivity of the core-UCNP device was ∼1.52 × 104 A W-1 which could be improved to ∼2.7 × 104 A W-1 (at 980 nm, power density of ∼31.84 μW cm-2, and under a 1.0 V bias) with the UCNP@SiO2 device. The responsivity, gain, and detectivity thus obtained are the highest reported so far for this class of composite photodetectors. The device could detect signals from domestic hand-held appliances such as laser pointers, cellphone flashlights, and air-conditioning remotes. This work will further the knowledge of device photophysics in this class of hybrids.

Broad-band high-gain room temperature photodetectors using semiconductor-metal nanofloret hybrids with wide plasmonic response.

Semiconducting nanowires are widely studied as building blocks for electro-optical devices; however, their limited cross-section and hence photo-response hinder the utilization of their full potential. Herein, we present an opto-electronic device for broad spectral detection ranging from the visible (VIS) to the short wavelength infra-red (SWIR) regime, using SiGe nanowires coupled to a broadband plasmonic antenna. The plasmonic amplification is obtained by deposition of a metallic nanotip at the edge of a nanowire utilizing a bottom-up synthesis technique. The metallic nanotip is positioned such that both optical plasmonic modes and electrical detection paths are coupled, resulting in a specific detectivity improvement of ∼1000 compared to conventional SiGe NWs. Detectivity and high gain are also measured in the SWIR regime owing to the special plasmonic response. Furthermore, the temporal response is improved by ∼1000. The fabrication process is simple and scalable, and it relies on low-resolution and facile fabrication steps with minimal requirements for top-down techniques.

Abrupt Thermal Shock of (NH4)2Mo3S13 Leads to Ultrafast Synthesis of Porous Ensembles of MoS2 Nanocrystals for High Gain Photodetectors.

Ultrafast synthesis of high-quality transition-metal dichalcogenide nanocrystals, such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), is technologically relevant for large-scale production of electronic and optoelectronic devices. Here, we report a rapid solid-state synthesis route for MoS2 using the chemically homogeneous molecular precursor, (NH4)2Mo3S13·H2O, resulting in nanoparticles with estimated size down to 25 nm only in 10 s at 1000 °C. Despite the extreme nonequilibrium conditions, the resulting porous MoS2 nanoparticles remain aggregated to preserve the form of the original rod shape bulk morphology of the molecular precursor. This ultrafast synthesis proceeds through the rapid decomposition of the precursor and rearrangement of Mo and S atoms coupled with simultaneous efficient release of massive gaseous species, to create nanoscale porosity in the resulting isomorphic pseudocrystals, which are composed of the MoS2 nanoparticles. Despite the very rapid escape of massive amounts of NH3, H2O, H2S, and S gases from the (NH4)2Mo3S13·H2O mm sized crystals, they retain their original shape as they convert to MoS2 rather than undergo explosive destruction from the rapid escape process of the gases. The obtained pseudocrystals are made of aggregated MoS2 nanocrystals exhibit a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of ∼35 m2/g with an adsorption average pore width of ∼160 Å. The nanoporous MoS2 crystals are solution processable by dispersing in ethanol and water and can be cast into large-area uniform composite films. Photodetectors fabricated from these films show more than 2 orders of magnitude higher conductivity (∼6.25 × 10-6 S/cm) and photoconductive gain (20 mA/W) than previous reports of MoS2 composite films. The optoelectronic properties of this nanoporous MoS2 imply that the shallow defects that originate from the ultrafast synthesis act as sensitizing centers that increase the photocurrent gain via two-level recombination kinetics.

Distortion-tolerated high-speed FBG demodulation method using temporal response of high-gain photodetector

Abstract A distortion-tolerated fiber Bragg grating (FBG) demodulation method for high-gain or high-speed sensing is proposed. The temporal response of photodetector (PD) on FBG reflection spectrum for different electric gains and wavelength scanning frequencies is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Simulation results show that high electric gains and high wavelength scanning frequencies will induce a tailed distortion on the right side of the FBG reflection peak output by the PD. A temporal response function of PD is presented to fit the peak with distortion and determine the peak position on FBG reflection spectrum. Experiments with varying degrees of FBG acquisition distortion are carried out. Compared with the traditional Gaussian fitting method, the measurement error of the temporal-response based method is limited within ±1.777 pm and the standard deviation is less than 0.940 pm, which are respectively improved by 6.87 times and 4.38 times at least.

A Photoconductor Intrinsically Has No Gain

In the past 50 years, the high gain in quantum efficiency of photoconductors is often explained by a widely accepted theory in which the photogain is proportional to the minority carrier lifetime and inversely proportional to the carrier transit time across the photoconductor. It occasionally misleads scientists to believe that a high-speed and high-gain photodetector can be made simply by shortening the device length. The theory is derived on the assumption that the distribution of photogenerated excess carriers is spatially uniform. In this Letter, we find that this assumption is not valid for a photoconductive semiconductor due to the metal-semiconductor boundary at the two metal electrodes inducing carrier confinement. By solving the continuity equation and performing numerical simulations, we conclude that a photoconductor intrinsically has no gain or at least no high gain, no matter how short the transit time and how long the minority lifetime is. The high gain observed in experiments comes from other extrinsic effects such as defects, surface states and surface depletion regions that localize excess minority carriers, leaving a large number of excess majority carriers accumulated in the conduction channel for the photogain. Following the Ohm's Law, a universal equation governing the photogain in a photoconductor is established at the end of this Letter.

Augmented Quantum Yield of a 2D Monolayer Photodetector by Surface Plasmon Coupling.

Monolayer (1L) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are promising materials for nanoscale optoelectronic devices because of their direct band gap and wide absorption range (ultraviolet to infrared). However, 1L-TMDCs cannot be easily utilized for practical optoelectronic device applications (e.g., photodetectors, solar cells, and light-emitting diodes) because of their extremely low optical quantum yields (QYs). In this investigation, a high-gain 1L-MoS2 photodetector was successfully realized, based on the surface plasmon (SP) of the Ag nanowire (NW) network. Through systematic optical characterization of the hybrid structure consisting of a 1L-MoS2 and the Ag NW network, it was determined that a strong SP and strain relaxation effect influenced a greatly enhanced optical QY. The photoluminescence (PL) emission was drastically increased by a factor of 560, and the main peak was shifted to the neutral exciton of 1L-MoS2. Consequently, the overall photocurrent of the hybrid 1L-MoS2 photodetector was observed to be 250 times better than that of the pristine 1L-MoS2 photodetector. In addition, the photoresponsivity and photodetectivity of the hybrid photodetector were effectively improved by a factor of ∼1000. This study provides a new approach for realizing highly efficient optoelectronic devices based on TMDCs.

High-gain broadband organolead trihalide perovskite photodetector based on a bipolar heterojunction phototransistor

Both a favorable material and designed structure are essential for a high-performance photodetector. For the excellent physical properties of organolead trihalide perovskites, with CH3NH3PbI3 films serving as a base layer, a bipolar heterojunction phototransistor-type perovskite photodetector is proposed. Benefiting from this bipolar heterojunction structure, which is characterized by high gain and low work voltage, an optimized device exhibits high performance with a photoresponsivity of 125 AW−1 and an external efficiency of 3.62 × 104% at 427 nm with a low work voltage of 0.7 V. Additionally, such phototransistors have a broad photoresponsivity from 360 to 820 nm. These results demonstrate that the bipolar heterojunction phototransistor, which is widely used in inorganic materials, is a promising structure for organolead trihalide perovskite optoelectronic devices, paving a new way for developing high-performance photodetectors.

Graphene–Silicon-Based High-Sensitivity and Broadband Phototransistor

Graphene–silicon vertical junction is utilized here for fabrication of high-responsivity and broadband phototransistor. Graphene–silicon as a Schottky junction plays the role of collector–base junction in a bipolar junction phototransistor. We propose graphene–silicon-based phototransistor as a promising candidate for fabrication of high-gain photodetector with responsivity as high as 11 A/W. Gain and ON/OFF ratio of our fabricated device reach up to 18 and 100, respectively. Our results show that the graphene–silicon-based phototransistor is sensitive to a broad range of incident light from visible to IR spectrum. Our results open up a way to fabricate highly sensitive photodetectors suitable for silicon integrated electronics.