Electrical and Electronic Engineering - Research Publications

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    Room Temperature Bias-Selectable, Dual-Band Infrared Detectors Based on Lead Sulfide Colloidal Quantum Dots and Black Phosphorus
    Wang, S ; Ashokan, A ; Balendhran, S ; Yan, W ; Johnson, BC ; Peruzzo, A ; Crozier, KB ; Mulvaney, P ; Bullock, J (AMER CHEMICAL SOC, 2023-06-15)
    A single photodetector capable of switching its peak spectral photoresponse between two wavelength bands is highly useful, particularly for the infrared (IR) bands in applications such as remote sensing, object identification, and chemical sensing. Technologies exist for achieving dual-band IR detection with bulk III-V and II-VI materials, but the high cost and complexity as well as the necessity for active cooling associated with some of these technologies preclude their widespread adoption. In this study, we leverage the advantages of low-dimensional materials to demonstrate a bias-selectable dual-band IR detector that operates at room temperature by using lead sulfide colloidal quantum dots and black phosphorus nanosheets. By switching between zero and forward bias, these detectors switch peak photosensitive ranges between the mid- and short-wave IR bands with room temperature detectivities of 5 × 109 and 1.6 × 1011 cm Hz1/2 W-1, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, these are the highest reported room temperature values for low-dimensional material dual-band IR detectors to date. Unlike conventional bias-selectable detectors, which utilize a set of back-to-back photodiodes, we demonstrate that under zero/forward bias conditions the device's operation mode instead changes between a photodiode and a phototransistor, allowing additional functionalities that the conventional structure cannot provide.
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    Flexible Vanadium Dioxide Photodetectors for Visible to Longwave Infrared Detection at Room Temperature ((press release associated article should be online on 21.06.2023))
    Balendhran, S ; Taha, M ; Wang, S ; Yan, W ; Higashitarumizu, N ; Wen, D ; Azar, NS ; Bullock, J ; Mulvaney, P ; Javey, A ; Crozier, KB (WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH, 2023-10-13)
    Abstract Flexible optoelectronics is a rapidly growing field, with a wide range of potential applications. From wearable sensors to bendable solar cells, curved displays, and curved focal plane arrays, the possibilities are endless. The criticality of flexible photodetectors for many of these applications is acknowledged, however, devices that are demonstrated thus far are limited in their spectral range. In this study, flexible photodetectors are demonstrated using a VOx nanoparticle ink, with an extremely broad operating wavelength range of 0.4 to 20 µm. This ink is synthesized using a simple and scalable wet‐chemical process. These photodetectors operate at room temperature and exhibit minimal variance in performance even when bent at angles of up to 100 ° at a bend radius of 6.4 mm. In addition, rigorous strain testing of 100 bend and release cycles revealed a photoresponse with a standard deviation of only 0.55%. This combination of mechanical flexibility, wide spectral response, and ease of fabrication makes these devices highly desirable for a wide range of applications, including low‐cost wearable sensors and hyperspectral imaging systems.
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    Gap-Surface Plasmon-Enhanced Photoluminescence of InSe
    Lee, HY ; Nelson, D ; Yan, W ; Crozier, KB ; Bullock, J ; Kim, S (WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH, 2023-05)
    2D materials, with distinct characteristics compared to their conventional bulk counterparts, have been a popular topic in various optoelectronic research fields. Herein, indium selenide (InSe), a monochalcogenide van der Waals layered semiconductor, which has been studied due to its thickness dependent optical characteristics is explored. For InSe to be used as a versatile light source, enhancing the emission of InSe is required. Here, enhanced photoluminescence (PL) from multi‐layer InSe is demonstrated using a gap plasmon induced between Ag nanocube dimer and an Au substrate. Such plasmonic structures support multiple resonances, one of those overlapping with InSe's band edge PL emission. The calculated Purcell factor shows a 200‐fold increase on the short edge of nanocube dimers. Experimentally, PL enhancement of 6‐fold is demonstrated at room temperature. In addition, a method for determining the thickness of 2D materials via dark‐field spectroscopy using white light illumination is shown. This study paves the way for the incorporation of 2D InSe into nanophotonic structures.
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    Infrared modulation via near-room-temperature phase transitions of vanadium oxides & core–shell composites
    Taha, M ; Balendhran, S ; Sherrell, PC ; Kirkwood, N ; Wen, D ; Wang, S ; Meng, J ; Bullock, J ; Crozier, KB ; Sciacca, L (Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), 2023)
    Vanadium oxides (VOx) are highly promising materials for heat retardant coatings, enabled by their insulator-to-metal phase transition (IMT). Currently, this IMT typically occurs at 68 °C, well above room temperature. Here, we develop a dopant-free approach to lower the IMT temperature to ∼40 °C enabling near-room temperature infrared modulation, by simple, solution phase synthesis. This is achieved by both controlling the stoichiometry of the metal oxide and by using a SiO2 shell around the VOx particles, with the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between SiO2 and VOx inducing sufficient strain in the VOx to dramatically lower the IMT temperature. This approach enables the production of a functional solution of suspended VOx nanoparticles with near-room temperature IMT. The combination of near-room temperature IMT and solution phase nanoparticles dramatically increases the ease, scalability, and efficacy of VOx application.
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    Spectrally Selective Mid-Wave Infrared Detection Using Fabry-Pérot Cavity Enhanced Black Phosphorus 2D Photodiodes.
    Yan, W ; Shresha, VR ; Jeangros, Q ; Azar, NS ; Balendhran, S ; Ballif, C ; Crozier, K ; Bullock, J (American Chemical Society, 2020-10-27)
    Thin two-dimensional (2D) material absorbers have the potential to reduce volume-dependent thermal noise in infrared detectors. However, any reduction in noise must be balanced against lower absorption from the thin layer, which necessitates advanced optical architectures. Such architectures can be particularly effective for applications that require detection only within a specific narrow wavelength range. This study presents a Fabry-Pérot cavity enhanced bP/MoS2 midwave infrared (MWIR) photodiode. This simple structure enables tunable narrow-band (down to 0.42 μm full width at half-maximum) photodetection in the 2-4 μm range by adjusting the thickness of the Fabry-Pérot cavity resonator. This is achieved while maintaining room-temperature performance metrics comparable to previously reported 2D MWIR detectors. Zero bias specific detectivity and responsivity values of up to 1.7 × 109 cm Hz1/2 W-1 and 0.11 A W-1 at λ = 3.0 μm are measured with a response time of less than 3 ns. These results introduce a promising family of 2D detectors with applications in MWIR spectroscopy.
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    Visible to Short-Wave Infrared Photodetectors Based on ZrGeTe4 van der Waals Materials
    Yan, W ; Johnson, BC ; Balendhran, S ; Cadusch, J ; Yan, D ; Michel, JI ; Wang, S ; Zheng, T ; Crozier, K ; Bullock, J (AMER CHEMICAL SOC, 2021-09-29)
    The self-terminated, layered structure of van der Waals materials introduces fundamental advantages for infrared (IR) optoelectronic devices. These are mainly associated with the potential for low noise while maintaining high internal quantum efficiency when reducing IR absorber thicknesses. In this study, we introduce a new van der Waals material candidate, zirconium germanium telluride (ZrGeTe4), to a growing family of promising IR van der Waals materials. We find the bulk form ZrGeTe4 has an indirect band edge around ∼0.5 eV, in close agreement with previous theoretical predictions. This material is found to be stable up to 140 °C and shows minimal compositional variation even after >30 days storage in humid air. We demonstrate simple proof-of-concept broad spectrum photodetectors with responsivities above 0.1 AW-1 across both the visible and short-wave infrared wavelengths. This corresponds to a specific detectivity of ∼109 cm Hz1/2 W-1 at λ = 1.4 μm at room temperature. These devices show a linear photoresponse vs illumination intensity relationship over ∼4 orders of magnitude, and fast rise/fall times of ∼50 ns, also verified by a 3 dB roll-off frequency of 5.9 MHz. As the first demonstration of photodetection using ZrGeTe4, these characteristics measured on a simple proof-of-concept device show the exciting potential of the ZrGeTe4 for room temperature IR optoelectronic applications.
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    Copper Tetracyanoquinodimethane (CuTCNQ): A Metal-Organic Semiconductor for Room-Temperature Visible to Long-Wave Infrared Photodetection
    Balendhran, S ; Hussain, Z ; Shrestha, VR ; Cadusch, J ; Ye, M ; Azar, NS ; Kim, H ; Ramanathan, R ; Bullock, J ; Javey, A ; Bansal, V ; Crozier, KB (AMER CHEMICAL SOC, 2021-08-18)
    Mid-wave and long-wave infrared (MWIR and LWIR) detection play vital roles in applications that include health care, remote sensing, and thermal imaging. However, detectors in this spectral range often require complex fabrication processes and/or cryogenic cooling and are typically expensive, which motivates the development of simple alternatives. Here, we demonstrate broadband (0.43-10 μm) room-temperature photodetection based on copper tetracyanoquinodimethane (CuTCNQ), a metal-organic semiconductor, synthesized via a facile wet-chemical reaction. The CuTCNQ crystals are simply drop-cast onto interdigitated electrode chips to realize photoconductors. The photoresponse is governed by a combination of interband (0.43-3.35 μm) and midgap (3.35-10 μm) transitions. The devices show response times (∼365 μs) that would be sufficient for many infrared applications (e.g., video rate imaging), with a frequency cutoff point of 1 kHz.
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    Long-Wave Infrared Photodetectors Based on 2D Platinum Diselenide atop Optical Cavity Substrates
    Azar, NS ; Bullock, J ; Shrestha, VR ; Balendhran, S ; Yan, W ; Kim, H ; Javey, A ; Crozier, KB (AMER CHEMICAL SOC, 2021-04-27)
    Long-wave infrared (LWIR) photodetection is of high technological importance, having a wide range of applications that include thermal imaging and spectroscopy. Two-dimensional (2D) noble-transition-metal dichalcogenides, platinum diselenide (PtSe2) in particular, have recently shown great promise for infrared detection. However, previous studies have mainly focused on wavelengths up to the short-wave infrared region. In this work, we demonstrate LWIR photodetectors based on multilayer PtSe2. In addition, we present an optical cavity substrate that enhances the light-matter interaction in 2D materials and thus their photodetection performance in the LWIR spectral region. The PtSe2 photoconductors fabricated on the TiO2/Au optical cavity substrate exhibit responsivities up to 54 mA/W to LWIR illumination at a wavelength of 8.35 μm. Moreover, these devices show a fast photoresponse with a time constant of 54 ns to white light illumination. The findings of this study reveal the potential of multilayer PtSe2 for fast and broadband photodetection from visible to LWIR wavelengths.
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    Electrical tuning of reflectance of graphene metasurface for unpolarized long wavelength infrared light
    Shrestha, VR ; Gao, Y ; Amani, M ; Bullock, J ; Javey, A ; Crozier, KB (OSA, 2018-01-01)
    We demonstrate a graphene-metal metasurface for unpolarized long wavelength infrared light with electrically-tunable reflectance. By applying a gate voltage, we shift the wavelength of a resonant reflectance dip centered at ~9.4 micron by~156 nm.
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    Solution-Synthesized High-Mobility Tellurium Nanoflakes for Short-Wave Infrared Photodetectors
    Amani, M ; Tan, C ; Zhang, G ; Zhao, C ; Bullock, J ; Song, X ; Kim, H ; Shrestha, VR ; Gao, Y ; Crozier, KB ; Scott, M ; Javey, A (AMER CHEMICAL SOC, 2018-07)
    Two-dimensional (2D) materials, particularly black phosphorus (bP), have demonstrated themselves to be excellent candidates for high-performance infrared photodetectors and transistors. However, high-quality bP can be obtained only via mechanical exfoliation from high-temperature- and high-pressure-grown bulk crystals and degrades rapidly when exposed to ambient conditions. Here, we report solution-synthesized and air-stable quasi-2D tellurium (Te) nanoflakes for short-wave infrared (SWIR) photodetectors. We perform comprehensive optical characterization via polarization-resolved transmission and reflection measurements and report the absorbance and complex refractive index of Te crystals. It is found that this material is an indirect semiconductor with a band gap of 0.31 eV. From temperature-dependent electrical measurements, we confirm this band-gap value and find that 12 nm thick Te nanoflakes show high hole mobilities of 450 and 1430 cm2 V-1 s-1 at 300 and 77 K, respectively. Finally, we demonstrate that despite its indirect band gap, Te can be utilized for high-performance SWIR photodetectors by employing optical cavity substrates consisting of Au/Al2O3 to dramatically increase the absorption in the semiconductor. By changing the thickness of the Al2O3 cavity, the peak responsivity of Te photoconductors can be tuned from 1.4 μm (13 A/W) to 2.4 μm (8 A/W) with a cutoff wavelength of 3.4 μm, fully capturing the SWIR band. An optimized room-temperature specific detectivity ( D*) of 2 × 109 cm Hz1/2 W-1 is obtained at a wavelength of 1.7 μm.