Photomultiplication-Type Organic Photodetectors for Near-Infrared Sensing with High and Bias-Independent Specific Detectivity.

Highly responsive organic photodetectors allow a plethora of applications in fields like imaging, health, security monitoring, etc. Photomultiplication-type organic photodetectors (PM-OPDs) are a desirable option due to their internal amplification mechanism. However, for such devices, significant gain and low dark currents are often mutually excluded since large operation voltages often induce high shot noise. Here, a fully vacuum-processed PM-OPD is demonstrated using trap-assisted electron injection in BDP-OMe:C ₆₀ material system. By applying only -1 V, compared with the self-powered working condition, the responsivity is increased by one order of magnitude, resulting in an outstanding specific detectivity of ≈10 ¹³  Jones. Remarkably, the superior detectivity in the near-infrared region is stable and almost voltage-independent up to -10 V. Compared with two photovoltaic-type photodetectors, these PM-OPDs exhibit the great potential to be easily integrated with state-of-the-art readout electronics in terms of their high responsivity, fast response speed, and bias-independent specific detectivity. The employed vacuum fabrication process and the easy-to-adapt PM-OPD concept enable seamless upscaling of production, paving the way to a commercially relevant photodetector technology.
(© 2022 The Authors. Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)