Plasmon-Enhanced Inverted Organic Bulk Heterojunction UV Photodetectors
Abstract
Solution-processable organic bulk heterjunction (BHJ) photodetectors are a promising alternative to inorganic devices due to their potential low cost, light weight, mechanical flexibility, and superior device performance. Plasmonic nanostructures not only can manipulate light matter interactions but also can be used as transparent electrodes to replace conventional oxides containing expensive, rare materials. In this work, we will develop plasmon-enhanced inverted organic BHJ ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors using an integrated simulation and experimental approach. The wide bandgap conjugated polymers will be blended with fullerene derivatives as the active layer. The aluminum plasmonic nanostructures with UV localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) will be designed and fabricated on glass and plastic substrates as cathode. The high work function silver will be used as anode to achieve the inverted device architecture. The charge transfer/blocking layers will be carefully selected in order to reduce dark current. By fabricating nanostructured silver thin film with blue-to-UV LSPR, this photodetector could also be illuminated from both front- and back-side. We will apply finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) electromagnetic simulations to design the plasmonic aluminum and silver nanostructures, and transfer-matrix method (TMM) optical simulations to optimize the entire device structures to ensure the maximum light absorption in the active layer. The device performance will be evaluated and correlated to the optical and electronic properties and the morphology and microstructures in order to understand the fundamental processes controlling the device performance. The success of this work will allow developing high performance polymer-based UV photodetectors to fulfill DTRA’s WMD sensing and recognition needs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 26, 2016
- Source ID
- HDTRA11510021
Entities
People
- Qiuming Yu
Organizations
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency
- University of Washington