Improving the sensitivity of a near-infrared nanocomposite photodetector by enhancing trap induced hole injection

Abstract

We report the enhancement of the photoconductive gain of nanocomposite near-infrared photodetectors by a zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) rich surface at the nanocomposite/cathode interface. An argon plasma etching process was used to remove polymer at the surface of nanocomposite films, which resulted in a ZnO NPs rich surface. The other way is to spin-coat a thin layer of ZnO NPs onto the nanocomposite layer. The ZnO NPs rich surface, which acts as electron traps to induce secondary hole injection under reverse bias, increased hole injection, and thus the external quantum efficiency by 2–3 times. The darkcurrent declined one order of magnitude simultaneously as a result of etching the top nanocomposite layer. The specific detectivity at 800 nm was increased by 7.4 times to 1.11 × 1010 Jones due to the simultaneously suppressed noise and enhanced gain.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jan 12, 2015
Source ID
10.1063/1.4905930

Entities

People

  • Jinsong Huang
  • Liang Shen
  • Qingfeng Dong
  • Yanjun Fang
  • Zhengguo Xiao

Organizations

  • Defense Threat Reduction Agency
  • Office of Naval Research
  • University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Semiconductor Device Technology
  • Thin Film Deposition Science.

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Biotechnology - Bioremediation
  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene
  • Quantum Computing