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Mid-infrared plasmonic silicon quantum dot/HgCdTe photodetector with ultrahigh specific detectivity

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Abstract

Highly sensitive photodetectors operating at mid-infrared (MIR) wavelengths are urgently required for the applications of astronomy, optical communication, security monitoring, and so forth. However, further promoting the sensitivity in conventional MIR devices for a higher detectivity is challenging. Among the potential strategies, integrating localized surface plasmon resonance with MIR semiconductors is a promising approach to developing high-performance optoelectronics. Here we demonstrate a high-sensitivity boron (B)-doped silicon quantum dot (Si-QD)/HgCdTe (MCT) MIR photodetector. Because of plasmon-induced hot-hole tunneling and enhanced light absorption, the hybrid photodetector exhibits a high specific detectivity of ∼1.6 × 109 cm·Hz1/2·W−1 (Jones) and a high-speed response (∼224 ns for the rise time and ∼580 ns for the fall time) at room temperature. Furthermore, the device achieves high-performance spectral blackbody detection with a peak detectivity of up to 1.6×1011 Jones at ∼5.8 µm under a cryogenic environment of 77 K, higher than that of bare MCT. This prominent enhancement can be attributed to the further suppression of hot-hole cooling due to a reduced phonon population at low temperatures, which facilitates more efficient hot-carrier extraction and contributes to ultrahigh sensitivity. The plasmonic material-integrated MCT architecture can pave the way for developing high-performance MIR photodetection.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFA0205700), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61927808), Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB30000000), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant Nos. 2022T150121, 2021M690625), and Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds (Grant No. 2021K106B). The authors would like to thank Department of Infrared Devices, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yang Wang for their help with this work.

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Author notes

  1. Cui Y Y and Tong Z Y have the same contribution to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics and Key Laboratory of MEMS of Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, China

    Yueying Cui, Xinlei Zhang, Wenhui Wang, Weiwei Zhao, Yuanfang Yu, Jialin Zhang & Zhenhua Ni

  2. State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Zhouyu Tong & Xiaodong Pi

Authors
  1. Yueying Cui
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  2. Zhouyu Tong
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  3. Xinlei Zhang
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  4. Wenhui Wang
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  5. Weiwei Zhao
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  6. Yuanfang Yu
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  7. Xiaodong Pi
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  8. Jialin Zhang
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  9. Zhenhua Ni
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Correspondence to Yuanfang Yu or Zhenhua Ni.

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Appendixes A–C. The supporting information is available online at info.scichina.com and link.springer.com. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Cui, Y., Tong, Z., Zhang, X. et al. Mid-infrared plasmonic silicon quantum dot/HgCdTe photodetector with ultrahigh specific detectivity. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 66, 142404 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-022-3549-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-022-3549-7

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