A New Wide Bandgap Semiconductor: Carbyne Nanocrystals

Deep ultraviolet (DUV) photodetectors (PDs) always and inevitably face a drastic working environment such as high temperature. However, DUV PDs based on the reported wide bandgap semiconductor materials cannot simultaneously possess high stability and high performance at high temperatures. Here, for the first time, a new wide bandgap semiconductor material, carbyne nanocrystals (CNCs), is reported. The constructed DUV PD made from CNCs demonstrates high-performance and high stability at the temperature of 300 °C, which is the highest working temperature reported to date for DUV PDs. Under 266 nm light at room temperature, the CNCs-based PD exhibits a low dark current of less than 10 pA and a high signal-to-noise ratio of greater than 10⁶ at a bias voltage of 2 V. It can work at the temperature up to 300 ° C, exhibiting a current on-off ratio of 2.1, and accompanied by a fast response/recovery speed of less than 0.06 s. The excellent transport properties of CNCs would be of great benefit to enhance the performance of devices. These findings open the door to the applications of CNCs as a new wide bandgap semiconductor material.