Bandgap-engineered GaAsSb alloy nanowires for near-infrared photodetection at 1.31μm

Abstract

Single-nanowire photodetectors have potential applications in integrated optoelectronic devices and systems. Here, bandgap-engineered GaAs 0.26 Sb 0.74 alloy nanowires were synthesized via a chemical vapor deposition method. The synthesized nanowires are single crystals grown along the [111] B direction with length up to 50 μm and diameter ranging from 40 to 500 nm. Photodetectors are built based on these single-alloy nanowires, which show a wide response in the near-infrared region with a high response peak located in the optical communication region (1.31 μm), as well as an external quantum efficiency of 1.62×10 5 %, a responsivity of 1.7×10 3 A W −1 and a short response time of 60 ms. These novel near-infrared photodetectors may find promising potential applications in integrated infrared photodetection, thermal imaging, information communication and processing.

Recent advances in Sb-based III–V nanowires

“…With the narrowest bandgap among all III-V semiconductors, InSb has the strongest intrinsic spin-orbit interaction, making it an ideal channel material for the Majorana fermions detecting devices [1,3,4,77]. Furthermore, the bandgap can be tuned very effectively by the fabrication of ternary alloys with well-controlled composition [7,8,51]. The controllable synthesis of ternary alloys with tunable bandgaps would broaden the applications of Sb-based III-V semiconductors in infrared photodetector, light emitting diodes and wavelength shifters etc.…”

“…With a tunable bandgap, ternary Sb-based III-V NWs are very suitable to fabricate a wide range of infrared photodetectors [44]. For example, the infrared photodetectors based on GaAsSb NWs showed a broadband response in the near-infrared region with a high response peak located in the optical communication region (1.31 μm), as well as an external quantum efficiency of 1.62×10 5 %, a responsivity of 1.7×10 3 AW −1 and a short response time of 60 ms [51]. On the other hand, owing to the high local electric field for a reverse biased Schottky barrier, photodetectors based on the GaAsSb with self-induced rectifying behavior were obtained by Huh et al They found that the photoresponsivity acquired at reverse bias (−3 V) under an illumination intensity of 20.7 mW cm −2 is around 1463 AW, which is 48 000 times higher than GaAs NW based photodetector and 2500 times higher than GaAs/AlGaAs core-shell NW based photodetector, as shown in figure 10(c) [7].…”

“…In this case, both InSb and GaSb NWs have been demonstrated in the application of IR detectors in the past few years [12,49,50]. Notably, by adjusting the composition of ternary NWs, such as GaAs x Sb 1−x [51], GaIn x Sb 1−x [52] and InAs x Sb 1−x [53], their bandgap can be tuned continuously to cover the majority of infrared wavelength range. Furthermore, Ashley et al theoretically predicted that doping a small amount of nitrogen to III-V semiconductors will lead to a large decrease in bandgap and finally extends the response into all IR wavelength ranges [54].…”

High‐Responsivity Photodetection by a Self‐Catalyzed Phase‐Pure p‐GaAs Nanowire

“…Among all semiconducting NWs, III–V semiconductor NWs are promising candidates for photodetectors because of their high absorption coefficient and wide tunable bandgaps . Photodetectors based on III–V semiconductor NWs have been fabricated in different configurations such as core–shell nanostructures, alloys, and heterostructures . Among all III–V NWs, gallium arsenide (GaAs) NWs have gained immense attention for detection application over recent years because of their high light‐to‐electricity conversion efficiency, moderate direct bandgap (1.42 eV), and high compatibility with Si technology, which in turn make them suitable for various outstanding optoelectronic applications like solar cells, photodetectors, p‐n diodes, and field effect transistors …”

Effect of rapid thermal annealing on the optical properties of GaAsSb alloys

“…Among them, GaAs x Sb 1-x can be obtained by incorporating antimony (Sb) into GaAs, allowing the band gap to be easily adjusted from 0.75 to 1.42 eV [6][7][8][9][10]. The diversity of semiconductor structures had been developed, such as GaAsSb/GaAs single/multiple quantum wells [11,12], GaAsSb-GaInAs/GaAs bilayer quantum wells [13], and GaAsSb nanowires [14][15][16][17]. GaAsSb was recognized as the important material for fabrication highperformance optoelectronic devices, such as laser diodes, photo-detectors and transistors [5,17,18].…”