High-detectivity polymer photodetectors with spectral response from 300 nm to 1450 nm.
Sensing from the ultraviolet-visible to the infrared is critical for a variety of industrial and scientific applications. Today, gallium nitride-, silicon-, and indium gallium arsenide--based detectors are used for different sub-bands within the ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelength range. We demonstrate polymer photodetectors with broad spectral response (300 to 1450 nanometers) fabricated by using a small-band-gap semiconducting polymer blended with a fullerene derivative. Operating at room temperature, the polymer photodetectors exhibit detectivities greater than 10(12) cm Hz(1/2)/W and a linear dynamic range over 100 decibels. The self-assembled nanomorphology and device architecture result in high photodetectivity over this wide spectral range and reduce the dark current (and noise) to values well below dark currents obtained in narrow-band photodetectors made with inorganic semiconductors.
Gong
Xiong
X
Center of Polymers and Organic Solids, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA. xgong@physics.ucsb.edu
Tong
Minghong
M
Xia
Yangjun
Y
Cai
Wanzhu
W
Moon
Ji Sun
JS
Cao
Yong
Y
Yu
Gang
G
Shieh
Chan-Long
CL
Nilsson
Boo
B
Heeger
Alan J
AJ