Broadband Photoresponse from Asymmetric Hot-Carrier Thermalizations in Atomically Thin Lateral Heterojunctions

ORAL

Abstract

The massless Dirac electron transport in graphene makes electron-electron scatterings much faster than the electron-phonon scatterings that dominate conventional semiconducting materials. This leads to an ultrafast (~ps) hot-carrier induced photothermoelectric (PTE) photoresponse, which is very promising for optical communications. However, it becomes more challenging to further optimized the devices, mainly because the spectral range, thermoelectric power factor, and the electron-phonon coupling strength are all coupled to the Fermi level of graphene. Here we proposed an asymmetric lateral heterojunction PTE photodetector that decouples the optimization of the spectral range and the responsivity. As a proof of concept, we synthesized graphene-MoS2 lateral heterojunctions through seed molecule selective “sowing” method and the as-fabricated devices showed broadband (400 nm to 1.6 µm) response, and good electrostatic gating tunability. The device behaviors can be explained through large discrepancies of the gate-tunable thermal relaxation pathways on the two sides of the asymmetric junction. Our proposed structure provided a new platform for the study of hot electron transport in strong electron-correlated systems and paved a way for high-performance, broadband photodetectors.

Presenters

  • Yuxuan Lin

    • Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Authors

  • Yuxuan Lin

    • Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Qiong Ma

    • Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Physics, MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology-MIT
  • Pin-Chun Shen

    • Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Mildred Dresselhaus

    • Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT
  • Pablo Jarillo-Herrero

    • Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT
    • Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Physics, MIT
    • MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Xi Ling

    • Department of Chemistry, Boston University
    • Chemistry, Boston University
    • Boston University
  • Jing Kong

    • Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT
    • EECS, MIT
  • Tomas Palacios

    • Massachusetts Inst of Tech-MIT
    • Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology