title: High-detectivity polymer photodetectors with spectral response from 300 nm to 1450 nm.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Center of Polymers and Organic Solids, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA. xgong@physics.ucsb.edu
authors.forename: Xiong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Minghong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Yangjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Wanzhu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Ji Sun
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Chan-Long
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Shieh
authors.forename: Boo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.forename: Alan J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Heeger