Charge Blinking Statistics of Semiconductor Nanocrystals Revealed by Carbon Nanotube Single Charge Sensors.

Zbydniewska, Ewa; Duzynska, Anna; Popoff, Michka; Hourlier, Djamila; Lenfant, Stéphane; Judek, Jaroslaw; Zdrojek, Mariusz; Mélin, Thierry · Nano Lett · 2015

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We demonstrate the relation between the optical blinking of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) and their electrical charge blinking for which we provide the first experimental observation of power-law statistics. To show this, we harness the performance of CdSe/ZnS NCs coupled with carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs), which act as single charge-sensitive electrometers with submillisecond time resolution, at room temperature. A random telegraph signal (RTS) associated with the NC single-trap charging is observed and exhibits power-law temporal statistics (τ(-α), with α in the range of ∼1-3), and a Lorentzian current noise power spectrum with a well-defined 1/f(2) corner. The spectroscopic analysis of the NC-CNTFET devices is consistent with the charging of NC defect states with a charging energy of Ec ≥ 200 meV. These results pave the way for a deeper understanding of the physics and technology of nanocrystal-based optoelectronic devices.