A Noble Metal Dichalcogenide for High‐Performance Field‐Effect Transistors and Broadband Photodetectors

2D layered materials are an emerging class of low‐dimensional materials with unique physical and structural properties and extensive applications from novel nanoelectronics to multifunctional optoelectronics. However, the widely investigated 2D materials are strongly limited in high‐performance electronics and ultrabroadband photodetectors by their intrinsic weaknesses. Exploring the new and narrow bandgap 2D materials is very imminent and fundamental. A narrow‐bandgap noble metal dichalcogenide (PtS₂) is demonstrated in this study. The few‐layer PtS₂ field‐effect transistor exhibits excellent electronic mobility exceeding 62.5 cm² V^?1 s^?1 and ultrahigh on/off ratio over 10⁶ at room temperature. The temperature‐dependent conductance and mobility of few‐layer PtS₂ transistors show a direct metal‐to‐insulator transition and carrier scattering mechanisms, respectively. Remarkably, 2D PtS₂ photodetectors with broadband photodetection from visible to mid‐infrared and a fast photoresponse time of 175 µs at 830 nm illumination for the first time are obtained at room temperature. Our work opens an avenue for 2D noble‐metal dichalcogenides to be applied in high‐performance electronic and mid‐infrared optoelectronic devices.     

Ultra‐Thin Layered Ternary Single Crystals [Sn(SxSe1−x)2] with Bandgap Engineering for High Performance Phototransistors on Versatile Substrates

2D ternary semiconductor single crystals, an emerging class of new materials, have attracted significant interest recently owing to their great potential for academic interest and practical application. In addition to other types of metal dichalcogenides, 2D tin dichalcogenides are also important layered compounds with similar capabilities. Yet, multi‐elemental single crystals enable to assist multiple degrees of freedom for dominant physical properties via ratio alteration. This study reports the growth of single crystals Se‐doped SnS₂ or SnSSe alloys, and demonstrates their capability for the fabrication of phototransistors with high performance. Based on exfoliation from bulk high quality single crystals, this study establishes the characteristics of few‐layered SnSSe in structural, optical, and electrical properties. Moreover, few‐layered SnSSe phototransistors are fabricated on both rigid (SiO₂/Si) and versatile polyethylene terephthalate substrates and their optoelectronic properties are examined. SnSSe as a phototransistor is demonstrated to exhibit a high photoresponsivity of about 6000 A W^?1 with ultra‐high photogain ≈8.8 × 10⁵, fast response time ≈9 ms, and specific detectivity (D*) ≈8.2 × 10¹² J. These unique features are much higher than those of recently published phototransistors configured with other few‐layered 2D single crystals, making ultrathin SnSSe a highly qualified candidate for next‐generation optoelectronic applications.     

High‐Sensitivity Floating‐Gate Phototransistors Based on WS2 and MoS2

In recent years, 2D layered materials have been considered as promising photon absorption channel media for next‐generation phototransistors due to their atomic thickness, easily tailored single‐crystal van der Waals heterostructures, ultrafast optoelectronic characteristics, and broadband photon absorption. However, the photosensitivity obtained from such devices, even under a large bias voltage, is still unsatisfactory until now. In this paper, high‐sensitivity phototransistors based on WS₂ and MoS₂ are proposed, designed, and fabricated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) embedded in the gate dielectric. These AuNPs, located between the tunneling and blocking dielectric, are found to enable efficient electron trapping in order to strongly suppress dark current. Ultralow dark current (10^?11 A), high photoresponsivity (1090 A W^?1), and high detectivity (3.5 × 10¹¹ Jones) are obtained for the WS₂ devices under a low source/drain and a zero gate voltage at a wavelength of 520 nm. These results demonstrate that the floating‐gate memory structure is an effective configuration to achieve high‐performance 2D electronic/optoelectronic devices.     

Hydrogen‐Assisted Growth of Ultrathin Te Flakes with Giant Gate‐Dependent Photoresponse

Tellurium (Te), as an elementary material, has attracted intense attention due to its potentially novel properties. However, it is still a great challenge to realize high‐quality 2D Te due to its helical chain structure. Here, ultrathin Te flakes (5 nm) are synthesized via hydrogen‐assisted chemical vapor deposition method. The density functional theory calculations and experiments confirm the growth mechanism, which can be ascribed to the formation of volatile intermediates increasing vapor pressure of the source and promoting the reaction. Impressively, the Te flake‐based transistor shows high on/off ratio ≈10⁴, ultralow off‐state current ≈8 × 10^?13 A, as well as a negligible hysteresis due to reducing thermally activated defects at 80 K. Moreover, Te‐flake‐based phototransistor demonstrates giant gate‐dependent photoresponse: when gate voltage varies from ?70 to 70 V, I_on/I_off is increased by ≈40‐fold. The hydrogen‐assisted strategy may provide a new approach for synthesizing other high quality 2D elementary materials.     

Synthesis of Large‐Area Atomically Thin BiOI Crystals with Highly Sensitive and Controllable Photodetection

Compared to the most studied 2D elements and binary compounds, ternary layered compounds with more adjustable physical and chemical properties have exhibited potential applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices. Here, 2D ternary layered BiOI crystals are synthesized first with a domain size up to 100 µm via space‐confined chemical vapor deposition. The photodetectors based on the as‐grown BiOI nanosheets demonstrate high sensitivity to 473 nm light. The I_on/I_off ratio and detectivity of BiOI photodetectors can reach up to 1 × 10⁵ and 8.2 × 10¹¹ Jones at 473 nm, respectively. Particularly, the contact and dark current of the photodetectors can be controlled by 254 nm ultraviolet light irradiation due to the introduction of oxygen vacancies. The facile synthesis of large‐area atomically thin BiOI and its controllable performance by ultraviolet light irradiation suggest that 2D BiOI crystal is a promising material for fundamental investigations and optoelectronic applications.     

Controlled Vapor–Solid Deposition of Millimeter‐Size Single Crystal 2D Bi2O2Se for High‐Performance Phototransistors

Atomically thin 2D materials have received intense interest both scientifically and technologically. Bismuth oxyselenide (Bi₂O₂Se) is a semiconducting 2D material with high electron mobility and good stability, making it promising for high‐performance electronics and optoelectronics. Here, an ambient‐pressure vapor–solid (VS) deposition approach for the growth of millimeter‐size 2D Bi₂O₂Se single crystal domains with thicknesses down to one monolayer is reported. The VS‐grown 2D Bi₂O₂Se has good crystalline quality, chemical uniformity, and stoichiometry. Field‐effect transistors (FETs) are fabricated using this material and they show a small contact resistivity of 55.2 Ω cm measured by a transfer line method. Upon light irradiation, a phototransistor based on the Bi₂O₂Se FETs exhibits a maximum responsivity of 22 100 AW^?1, which is a record among currently reported 2D semiconductors and approximately two orders of magnitude higher than monolayer MoS₂. The Bi₂O₂Se phototransistor shows a gate tunable photodetectivity up to 3.4 × 10¹⁵ Jones and an on/off ratio up to ≈10⁹, both of which are much higher than phototransistors based on other 2D materials reported so far. The results of this study indicate a method to grow large 2D Bi₂O₂Se single crystals that have great potential for use in optoelectronic applications.     

Fast,Self‐Driven,Air‐Stable,and Broadband Photodetector Based on Vertically Aligned PtSe2/GaAs Heterojunction

Group‐10 layered transitional metal dichalcogenides including PtS₂, PtSe₂, and PtTe₂ are excellent potential candidates for optoelectronic devices due to their unique properties such as high carrier mobility, tunable bandgap, stability, and flexibility. Large‐area platinum diselenide (PtSe₂) with semiconducting characteristics is far scarcely investigated. Here, the development of a high‐performance photodetector based on vertically aligned PtSe₂‐GaAs heterojunction which exhibits a broadband sensitivity from deep ultraviolet to near‐infrared light, with peak sensitivity from 650 to 810 nm, is reported. The I_light/I_dark ratio and responsivity of photodetector are 3 × 10⁴ and 262 mA W^?1 measured at 808 nm under zero bias voltage. The response speed of τ_r/τ_f is 5.5/6.5 µs, which represents the best result achieved for Group‐10 TMDs based optoelectronic device thus far. According to first‐principle density functional theory, the broad photoresponse ranging from visible to near‐infrared region is associated with the semiconducting characteristics of PtSe₂ which has interstitial Se atoms within the PtSe₂ layers. It is also revealed that the PtSe₂/GaAs photodetector does not exhibit performance degradation after six weeks in air. The generality of the above good results suggests that the vertically aligned PtSe₂ is an ideal material for high‐performance optoelectronic systems in the future.     

Synergistic Effect of Hybrid PbS Quantum Dots/2D‐WSe2 Toward High Performance and Broadband Phototransistors

The transitionmetal dichalcogenides‐based phototransistors have demonstrated high transport mobility but are limited to poor photoresponse, which greatly blocks their applications in optoelectronic fields. Here, light sensitive PbS colloidal quantum dots (QDs) combined with 2D WSe₂ to develop hybrid QDs/2D‐WSe₂ phototransistors for high performance and broadband photodetection are utilized. The device shows a responsivity up to 2 × 10⁵ A W^–1, which is orders of magnitude higher than the counterpart of individual material‐based devices. The detection spectra of hybrid devices can be extended to near infrared similar to QDs' response. The high performance of hybrid 0D‐2D phototransistor is ascribed to the synergistic function of photogating effect. PbS QDs can efficiently absorb the input illumination and 2D WSe₂ supports a transport expressway for injected photocarriers. The hybrid phototransistors obtain a specific detectivity over 10¹³ Jones in both ON and OFF state in contrast to the depleted working state (OFF) for other reported QDs/2D phototransistors. The present device construction strategy, photogating enhanced performance, and robust device working conditions contain high potential for future optoelectronic devices.     

Capillary‐Bridge Mediated Assembly of Conjugated Polymer Arrays toward Organic Photodetectors

Large‐scale patterning of high‐quality organic semiconductors is crucial for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices with high efficiency and low cost. Yet, owing to the uncontrollable dewetting dynamics of organic liquid in conventional solution patterning techniques, large defect density of organic architectures is inevitable, which is detrimental to the device performance. To address this challenge, herein a capillary‐bridge‐mediated assembly technique is developed for regulating the dewetting process, yielding large‐scale 1D microstructure ordered arrays. The 1D arrays organic photodetectors exhibit a high optoelectronic performance of light on/off ratio exceeding 100, responsivity of 3.24 A W^?1, detectivity of 3.20 × 10¹¹ Jones and fast response speed, showing a great improvement compared with spin‐coated membrane devices. In addition, the significant enhancement of the device photodetection under the electronic field modulation is investigated by applying a back‐gate voltage and explained with the photocurrent predominating in the OFF state and the neglected thermocurrent and tunneling current promoting in the ON state of the phototransistor devices. The research offers a new insight for the facile fabrication of large‐scale integrated photodetectors and other organic devices based on patterned conjugated polymers.     

Single‐Crystal Hybrid Perovskite Platelets on Graphene: A Mixed‐Dimensional Van Der Waals Heterostructure with Strong Interface Coupling

Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures open up excellent prospects in electronic and optoelectronic applications. In this work, mixed‐dimensional metal‐halide perovskite/graphene heterostructures are prepared through selective growth of CH₃NH₃PbBr₃ platelets on patterned single‐layer graphene using chemical vapor deposition. Preferred growth of single‐crystal CH₃NH₃PbBr₃ platelets on graphene surfaces is achieved, which is accompanied by significant photoluminescence quenching. Raman spectra reveal that perovskite platelets cause p‐type doping in the graphene layer. A significant Fermi level decrease of 272 meV in graphene is estimated, which corresponds to a high doping density of 7.5 × 10¹² cm^?2. Surface potentials measured by Kelvin probe force microscopy indicate a negatively charged perovskite surface under illumination, which is consistent with the upward band bending deduced from conducting atomic force microscopy measurements. Moreover, a field‐effect phototransistor is fabricated using the perovskite/graphene heterostructure channel, and the increased Dirac voltage under illumination confirms an enhanced p‐type character in graphene. These findings enrich the understanding of strong interface coupling in such mixed‐dimensional vdW heterostructures and pave the way toward novel perovskite‐based optoelectronic devices.     

High Responsivity Phototransistors Based on Few‐Layer ReS2 for Weak Signal Detection

2D transition metal dichalcogenides are emerging with tremendous potential in many optoelectronic applications due to their strong light–matter interactions. To fully explore their potential in photoconductive detectors, high responsivity is required. Here, high responsivity phototransistors based on few‐layer rhenium disulfide (ReS₂) are presented. Depending on the back gate voltage, source drain bias and incident optical light intensity, the maximum attainable photoresponsivity can reach as high as 88 600 A W^?1, which is a record value compared to other individual 2D materials with similar device structures and two orders of magnitude higher than that of monolayer MoS₂. Such high photoresponsivity is attributed to the increased light absorption as well as the gain enhancement due to the existence of trap states in the few‐layer ReS₂ flakes. It further enables the detection of weak signals, as successfully demonstrated with weak light sources including a lighter and limited fluorescent lighting. Our studies underscore ReS₂ as a promising material for future sensitive optoelectronic applications.     

High‐Performance,Air‐Stable,Top‐Gate,p‐Channel WSe2 Field‐Effect Transistor with Fluoropolymer Buffer Layer

High‐performance, air‐stable, p‐channel WSe₂ top‐gate field‐effect transistors (FETs) using a bilayer gate dielectric composed of high‐ and low‐k dielectrics are reported. Using only a high‐k Al₂O₃ as the top‐gate dielectric generally degrades the electrical properties of p‐channel WSe₂, therefore, a thin fluoropolymer (Cytop) as a buffer layer to protect the 2D channel from high‐k oxide forming is deposited. As a result, a top‐gate‐patterned 2D WSe₂ FET is realized. The top‐gate p‐channel WSe₂ FET demonstrates a high hole mobility of 100 cm²_­ V^?1 s^?1 and a I_ON/I_OFF ratio > 10⁷ at low gate voltages (V_GS ca. ?4 V) and a drain voltage (V_DS) of ?1 V on a glass substrate. Furthermore, the top‐gate FET shows a very good stability in ambient air with a relative humidity of 45% for 7 days after device fabrication. Our approach of creating a high‐k oxide/low‐k organic bilayer dielectric is advantageous over single‐layer high‐k dielectrics for top‐gate p‐channel WSe₂ FETs, which will lead the way toward future electronic nanodevices and their integration.     

High‐Performance Ferroelectric Polymer Side‐Gated CdS Nanowire Ultraviolet Photodetectors

An efficient ferroelectric‐enhanced side‐gated single CdS nanowire (NW) ultraviolet (UV) photodetector at room temperature is demonstrated. With the ultrahigh electrostatic field from polarization of ferroelectric polymer, the depletion of the intrinsic carriers in the CdS NW channel is achieved, which significantly reduces the dark current and increases the sensitivity of the UV photodetector even after the gate voltage is removed. Meanwhile, the low frequency noise current power of the device reaches as low as 4.6 × 10^?28 A² at a source‐drain voltage V_ds = 1 V. The single CdS NW UV photodetector exhibits high photoconductive gain of 8.6 × 10⁵, responsivity of 2.6 × 10⁵ A W^?1, and specific detectivity (D*) of 2.3 × 10¹⁶ Jones at a low power density of 0.01 mW cm^?2 for λ = 375 nm. In addition, the spatially resolved scanning photocurrent mapping across the device shows strong photocurrent signals near the metal contacts. This is promising for the design of a controllable, high‐performance, and low power consumption ultraviolet photodetector.     

Specialities of optical FET with tin-doped junction channel

This paper deals with researches of phototransistor based on gallium arsenide with tin-doped channel. It is experimentally shown, that in contrast to usual phototransistors with tellurium-doped channels, gate photocurrents are constant, i.e. independent on blocking voltage, and these currents grow with light intensity increase. At that time total photo sensitivity is smoothly controlled by working voltage and it achieves high values, current sensitivity achieves 8.26 × 10² A/W, voltage sensitivity achieves 1.3 × 10⁸ V/W.     

Fully Transparent Non‐volatile Memory Thin‐Film Transistors Using an Organic Ferroelectric and Oxide Semiconductor Below 200 °C

A fully transparent non‐volatile memory thin‐film transistor (T‐MTFT) is demonstrated. The gate stack is composed of organic ferroelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride‐trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF‐TrFE)] and oxide semiconducting Al‐Zn‐Sn‐O (AZTO) layers, in which thin Al₂O₃ is introduced between two layers. All the fabrication processes are performed below 200 °C on the glass substrate. The transmittance of the fabricated device was more than 90% at the wavelength of 550 nm. The memory window obtained in the T‐MTFT was 7.5 V with a gate voltage sweep of ?10 to 10 V, and it was still 1.8 V even with a lower voltage sweep of ?6 to 6 V. The field‐effect mobility, subthreshold swing, on/off ratio, and gate leakage currents were obtained to be 32.2 cm² V^?1 s^?1, 0.45 V decade^?1, 10⁸, and 10^?13 A, respectively. All these characteristics correspond to the best performances among all types of non‐volatile memory transistors reported so far, although the programming speed and retention time should be more improved.     

Multibit Optoelectronic Memory in Top‐Floating‐Gated van der Waals Heterostructures

Nonvolatile memories based on van der Waals heterostructures have been proved to be promising candidates for next‐generation data storage devices. However, little attention has been focused on the structure with separated floating and control gates (the floating gates and control gates distribute at the different side of the channels), which were recently predicted to be capable of further improving device performance. Here, nonvolatile multibit optoelectronic memories are demonstrated using MoS₂, hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN), and graphene in a top‐floating‐gated structure. With separated top graphene floating gate, the devices show a large memory window (≈95 V) via sweeping gate voltage from 80 to ?80 V, a high on/off ratio (≈10⁶) with an ultralow dark current (≈10^?14 A), as well as excellent retention characteristic (≈10⁴ s) and cyclic endurance. In addition, these devices can also be erased by a laser illumination with broadband spectrum after being electrically programmed. For the multilevel storage property, 7/6 stages controlled by different electrical operations, and 13/6/3 stages by different laser pulse illuminations are gained. The obtained results show a promising performance for nonvolatile optoelectronic memory using a top‐floating‐gated structure.     

Low‐Operating‐Voltage Organic Transistors Made of Bifunctional Self‐Assembled Monolayers

Self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) are molecular assemblies that spontaneously form on an appropriate substrate dipped into a solution of an active surfactant in an organic solvent. Organic field‐effect transistors are described, built on an SAM made of bifunctional molecules comprising a short alkyl chain linked to an oligothiophene moiety that acts as the active semiconductor. The SAM is deposited on a thin oxide layer (alumina or silica) that serves as a gate insulator. Platinum–titanium source and drain electrodes (either top‐ or bottom‐contact configuration) are patterned by using electron‐beam (e‐beam) lithography, with a channel length ranging between 20 and 1000 nm. In most cases, ill‐defined current–voltage (I–V) curves are recorded, attributed to a poor electrical contact between platinum and the oligothiophene moiety. However, a few devices offer well‐defined curves with a clear saturation, thus allowing an estimation of the mobility: 0.0035 cm² V^–1 s^–1 for quaterthiophene and 8 × 10^–4 cm² V^–1 s^–1 for terthiophene. In the first case, the on–off ratio reaches 1800 at a gate voltage of –2 V. Interestingly, the device operates at room temperature and very low bias, which may open the way to applications where low consumption is required.     

Controllable Shifts in Threshold Voltage of Top‐Gate Polymer Field‐Effect Transistors for Applications in Organic Nano Floating Gate Memory

Organic field‐effect transistor (FET) memory is an emerging technology with the potential to realize light‐weight, low‐cost, flexible charge storage media. Here, solution‐processed poly[9,9‐dioctylfluorenyl‐2,7‐diyl]‐co‐(bithiophene)] (F8T2) nano floating gate memory (NFGM) with a top‐gate/bottom‐contact device configuration is reported. A reversible shift in the threshold voltage (V_Th) and reliable memory characteristics was achieved by the incorporation of thin Au nanoparticles (NPs) as charge storage sites for negative charges (electrons) at the interface between polystyrene and cross‐linked poly(4‐vinylphenol). The F8T2 NFGM showed relatively high field‐effect mobility (µ_FET) (0.02 cm² V^?1 s^?1) for an amorphous semiconducting polymer with a large memory window (ca. 30 V), a high on/off ratio (more than 10⁴) during writing and erasing with an operation voltage of 80 V of gate bias in a relatively short timescale (less than 1 s), and a retention time of a few hours. This top‐gated polymer NFGM could be used as an organic transistor memory element for organic flash memory.     

MoS2/HfO2/Silicon‐On‐Insulator Dual‐Photogating Transistor with Ambipolar Photoresponsivity for High‐Resolution Light Wavelength Detection

Photogating detectors based on 2D materials attract significant research interests. However, most of these photodetectors are only sensitive to the incident intensities and lack the ability to distinguish different wavelengths. Color imaging based on these detectors usually requires additional optical filter arrays to collect red, green, and blue (RGB) colors in different photodetectors to restore the true color of one pixel. In this study, an MoS₂/HfO₂/silicon‐on‐insulator field effect phototransistor with wavelength distinguishing ability is presented, where the photogating effect can be simultaneously formed in the top MoS₂ gate and bottom Si substrate gate. These two individual photogating effects can reduce and increase the read current in the middle 12 nm Si channel, respectively. Thus, by tuning the applied voltages on these two gates, the device can be used to obtain tunable ambipolar photoresponsivity from +7000 A W^?1 (Si bottom gate dominated) to 0 A W^?1 (balanced), and finally to ?8000 A W^?1 (MoS₂ gate dominated). In addition, the experimental results show that the corresponding top gate voltage to the zero responsivity (0 A W^?1) point can be positively shifted by the increasing of incident wavelength with high resolution up to 2 nm and is insensitive to the incident intensity.     

Large‐Area Chemical Vapor Deposited MoS2 with Transparent Conducting Oxide Contacts toward Fully Transparent 2D Electronics

2D semiconductors are poised to revolutionize the future of electronics and photonics, much like transparent oxide conductors and semiconductors have revolutionized the display industry. Herein, these two types of materials are combined to realize fully transparent 2D electronic devices and circuits. Specifically, a large‐area chemical vapor deposition process is developed to grow monolayer MoS₂ continuous films, which are, for the first time, combined with transparent conducting oxide (TCO) contacts. Transparent conducting aluminum doped zinc oxide contacts are deposited by atomic layer deposition, with composition tuning to achieve optimal conductivity and band‐offsets with MoS₂. The optimized process gives fully transparent TCO/MoS₂ 2D electronics with average visible‐range transmittance of 85%. The transistors show high mobility (4.2 cm² V^?1 s^?1), fast switching speed (0.114 V dec^?1), very low threshold voltage (0.69 V), and large switching ratio (4 × 10⁸). To our knowledge, these are the lowest threshold voltage and subthreshold swing values reported for monolayer chemical vapor deposition MoS₂ transistors. The transparent inverters show fast switching properties with a gain of 155 at a supply voltage of 10 V. The results demonstrate that transparent conducting oxides can be used as contact materials for 2D semiconductors, which opens new possibilities in 2D electronic and photonic applications.