A robust SiC nanoarray blue-light photodetector

Abstract

Silicon carbide (SiC) is recognized as one of the most important candidates of third generation semiconductors with totally superior physical/chemical properties and exciting applications in opto/electronic devices. In the present work, we report the exploration of high-performance blue-light photodetectors on both rigid and flexible substrates by using SiC nanoarrays, which are aligned by dielectrophoresis. The rise and decay times of the photodetector assembled on a rigid (i.e., SiO₂/Si) substrate are ∼0.39 and 0.56 s, respectively, with an external quantum efficiency of 3394%, which suggested that the SiC nanoarray photodetector has high sensitivity, fast responsivity and excellent reproducibility to light irradiation with a wavelength of 445 nm. Meanwhile, 73% of the maximum photocurrent response can be maintained after 6 months. Furthermore, the as-constructed flexible photodetector based on the polyethylene terepthalate (PET) substrate was highly stable against repeated bending, demonstrating that the as-constructed SiC photodetector was robust with high flexibility and electrical stability.