Polarity-Tunable Field Effect Phototransistors.

Fu, Jintao; Jiang, Hao; Nie, Changbin; Sun, Feiying; Tang, Linlong; Li, Yunjie; Li, Zhancheng; Xiong, Wen et al. · Nano Lett · 2023

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Field-effect phototransistors feature gate voltage modulation, allowing dynamic performance control and significant signal amplification. A field-effect phototransistor can be designed to be inherently either unipolar or ambipolar in its response. However, conventionally, once a field-effect phototransistor has been fabricated, its polarity cannot be changed. Herein, a polarity-tunable field-effect phototransistor based on a graphene/ultrathin Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>/Si structure is demonstrated. Light can modulate the gating effect of the device and change the transfer characteristic curve from unipolar to ambipolar. This photoswitching in turn produces a significantly improved photocurrent signal. The introduction of an ultrathin Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> interlayer also enables the phototransistor to achieve a responsivity in excess of 10<sup>5</sup> A/W, a 3 dB bandwidth of 100 kHz, a gain-bandwidth product of 9.14 × 10<sup>10</sup> s<sup>-1</sup>, and a specific detectivity of 1.91 × 10<sup>13</sup> Jones. This device architecture enables the gain-bandwidth trade-off in current field-effect phototransistors to be overcome, demonstrating the feasibility of simultaneous high-gain and fast-response photodetection.