Light Sources and Photodetectors Enabled by 2D Semiconductors

Abstract

The emerging 2D semiconductors have aroused increasing attention due to their fascinating fundamental properties and application prospects. Technical investigation of 2D semiconductor–based electronics and optoelectronics is paving the way to realizing practical applications, which opens up new opportunities to reshape the current semiconductor industry. Particularly, 2D semiconductor–based optoelectronics can be extensively utilized in the promising semiconductor and information industries, such as solid‐state lighting, on‐chip optical interconnects, quantum computing, and communication. Here, the research progress regarding the fabrication and characterization of rapidly growing light‐emitting devices and photodetectors enabled by 2D semiconductors is reviewed. According to different emission mechanisms, 2D semiconductor–activated light sources are classified into four types: excitonic light‐emitting diodes (LEDs), quantum LEDs, valley LEDs, and lasers. Moreover, photodetecting devices based on atomically thin MoS2, other 2D semiconductors, and van der Waals heterostructures are discussed, where diverse device structures, performance parameters, and working principles are compared. Furthermore, the remaining challenges in the realization of practical devices with desirable features are outlined and new research opportunities for 2D semiconductor optoelectronics are proposed.

Recent Advances in Two-Dimensional Quantum Dots and Their Applications

“…These 2D-QDs have received considerable attention since the advent of graphene and tunable size/shape GQDs and have become a cutting-edge research subject. Owing to their ease of functionalization, 2D-QDs such as TMDs have piqued researchers' interest for a variety of applications, including transistors, optoelectronic devices, catalysis, energy conversion, batteries, and sensing [41,[86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97]. Conversely, atomically thin TMDs have low light absorption, so researchers are working on possible strategies to increase the performance of photodetectors based on TMDs.…”

Electroluminescent Devices Based on 2D Semiconducting Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

“…Conventional semiconductor device physics needs to be applied with care to 2D semiconductor systems because the bulk component is effectively absent for carriers traveling along the out‐of‐plane direction . Several review articles discuss the basic electronic, optoelectronic, and photonic properties of 2D semiconductors and their heterostructures . In this report, we summarize various strategies to achieving excitonic electroluminescence in 2D TMDs and their van der Waals heterostructures and describe the characteristic features of different device configurations.…”

Direct‐Bandgap Bilayer WSe2/Microsphere Monolithic Cavity for Low‐Threshold Lasing

“…Light sources based on 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) semiconductors have attracted increasing attention due to their potential in the fields of highly integrated devices and wearable technology. [ 1–3 ] A crucial concern of emitting media is the very weak photoluminescence (PL) intensity of TMDs. Thus far, great success has been obtained in enhancing the quantum yield (QY) of materials.…”