Photogating interfacial effects in carbon nanotube-based transistors on a Si/SiO2 substrate toward highly sensitive photodetection

Abstract

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are considered to be promising material platforms for various photodetectors (including phototransistors) due to their unique optoelectrical properties (e.g., high mobility and a wide variety of bandgap values). Herein, we present highly sensitive phototransistors which utilised sparse networks of SWCNTs on a silicon/silica substrate and operated by means of the photogating effect. The response of SWCNTs to photo-induced electrostatic charges (photogating effect) was highly dependent on the conductivity type of the channel, which was “metallic” or “semiconducting”, depending on the SWCNT density. We determined the performance of these transistors depending on the characteristics of the substrate and conductivity type of the SWCNT channel. The optimized configuration of phototransistors with a channel comprising a sparse network of SWCNTs permitted improvement in the specific detectivity and relative response compared with previously reported photodetectors based on graphene and carbon nanotubes. We demonstrated an absolute responsivity of ∼60 A W⁻¹ at an incident light power of ∼2 nW, specific detectivity of 7.8 × 10¹¹ cm·Hz^1/2 W⁻¹, and response time of 300 μs. These data revealed the high potential of photogating-based SWCNTs detectors for extremely weak signals with a high signal-to-noise ratio.