Logo image
A route to high gain photodetectors through suppressed recombination in disordered films
Journal article   Peer reviewed

A route to high gain photodetectors through suppressed recombination in disordered films

B. Philippa, R. White and A. Pivrikas
Applied Physics Letters, Vol.109(15)
2016
url
Link to Published Version *Subscription may be requiredView
url
Free to Read *No subscription requiredView

Abstract

Secondary photocurrents offer an alternative mechanism to photomultiplier tubes and avalanche diodes for making high gain photodetectors that are able to operate even at extremely low light conditions. While in the past secondary currents were studied mainly in ordered crystalline semiconductors, disordered systems offer some key advantages such as a potentially lower leakage current and typically longer photocarrier lifetimes due to trapping. In this work, we use numerical simulations to identify the critical device and material parameters required to achieve high photocurrent and gain in steady state. We find that imbalanced mobilities and suppressed, non-Langevin-type charge carrier recombination will produce the highest gain. A low light intensity, strong electric field, and a large single carrier space charge limited current are also beneficial for reaching high gains. These results would be useful for practical photodetector fabrication when aiming to maximize the gain.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Source: InCites

Metrics

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Citation topics
2 Chemistry
2.114 Organic Semiconductors
2.114.61 Organic Solar Cells
Web Of Science research areas
Physics, Applied
ESI research areas
Physics
Logo image