Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Highly sensitive phototransistors based on two-dimensional GaTe nanosheets with direct bandgap

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Nano Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Highly sensitive phototransistors based on two-dimensional (2D) GaTe nanosheet have been demonstrated. The performance (photoresponsivity, detectivity) of the GaTe nanosheet phototransistor can be efficiently adjusted by using the applied gate voltage. The devices exhibit an ultrahigh photoresponsivity of 274.3 AW−1. The detectivity of 2D GaTe devices is ∼1012 Jones, which surpasses that of currently-exploited InGaAs photodetectors (1011−1012 Jones). To reveal the origin of the enhanced photocurrent in GaTe nanosheets, theoretical modeling of the electronic structures was performed to show that GaTe nanosheets also have a direct bandgap structure, which contributes to the promotion of photon absorption and generation of excitons. This work shows that GaTe nanosheets are promising materials for high performance photodetectors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Geim, A. K.; Grigorieva, I. V. Van der Waals heterostructure. Nature 2013, 499, 419–425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Tang, Q.; Zhou, Z. Graphene-analogous low-dimensional materials. Prog. Mater. Sci. 2013, 58, 1244–1315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Huang, X.; Zeng, Z. Y.; Zhang, H. Metal dichalcogenide nanosheets: Preparation, properties and applications. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2013, 42, 1934–1946.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Chhowalla, M.; Shin, H. S.; Eda, G.; Li, L. J.; Loh, K. P.; Zhang, H. The chemistry of two-dimensional layered transition metal dichalcogenide nanosheets. Nat. Chem. 2013, 5, 263–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Zeng, Z. Y.; Yin, Z. Y.; Huang, X.; Li, H.; He, Q. Y.; Lu, G.; Boey, F.; Zhang, H. Single-layer semiconducting nanosheets: High-yield preparation and device fabrication. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 11093–11097.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. He, Q. Y.; Zeng, Z. Y.; Li, H.; Wu, S. X.; Huang, X.; Zhang, H. Fabrication of flexible MoS2 thin-film transistor arrays for practical gas-sensing applications. Small 2012, 8, 2994–2999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Wu, J.; Li, H.; Yin, Z. Y.; Li, H.; Liu, J. Q.; Cao, X. H.; Zhang, Q.; Zhang, H. Layer thinning and etching of mechanically exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets by thermal annealing in air. Small 2013, 9, 3314–3319.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Yin, Z. Y.; Li, H.; Li, H.; Jiang, L.; Shi, Y. M.; Sun, Y. H.; Lu, G.; Zhang, Q.; Chen, X. D.; Zhang, H. Single-layer MoS2 phototransistors. ACS Nano 2012, 6, 74–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Zhang, Y.; Zhang, Y. F.; Ji, Q. Q.; Ju, J.; Yuan, H. T.; Shi, J. P.; Gao, T.; Ma, D. L.; Liu, M. X.; Chen, Y. B., et al. Controlled growth of high-quality monolayer WS2 layers on sapphire and imaging its grain boundary. ACS Nano 2013, 7, 8963–8971.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Hu, P. A.; Wen, Z. Z.; Wang, L. F.; Tan, P. H.; Xiao, K. Synthesis of few-layer GaSe nanosheets for high performance photodetectors. ACS Nano 2012, 6, 5988–5994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Hu, P. A.; Wang, L. F.; Yoon, M.; Zhang, J.; Feng, W.; Wang, X. N.; Wen, Z. Z.; Idrobo, J. C.; Miyamoto, Y.; Geohegan, D. B.; Xiao, K. Highly responsive ultrathin GaS nanosheet photodetectors on rigid and flexible substrates. Nano Lett. 2013, 13, 1649–1654.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Lin, M.; Wu, D.; Zhou, Y.; Huang, W.; Jiang, W.; Zheng, W. S.; Zhao, S. L.; Jin, C. H.; Guo, Y. F.; Peng, H. L., et al. Controlled growth of atomically thin In2Se3 flakes by van der Waals epitaxy. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 13274–13277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Zhou, Y. B.; Nie, Y. F.; Liu, Y. J.; Yan, K.; Hong, J. H.; Jin, C. H.; Zhou, Y.; Yin, J. B.; Liu, Z. F.; Peng, H. L. Epitaxy and photoresponse of two-dimensional GaSe crystals on flexible transparent mica sheets. ACS Nano, in press, DOI: 10.1021/nn405529r.

  14. Nair, R. R.; Blake, P.; Grigorenko, A. N.; Novoselov, K. S.; Booth, T. J.; Stauber, T.; Peres, N. M. R.; Geim, A. K. Fine structure constant defines visual transparency of graphene. Science 2008, 320, 1308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Xia, F. N.; Mueller, T.; Lin, Y. M.; Valdes-Garcia, A.; Avouris, P. Ultrafast graphene photodetector. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2009, 4, 839–843.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Gan, X. T.; Shiue, R. J.; Gao, Y. D.; Meric, I.; Heinz, T. F.; Shepard, K.; Hone, J.; Assefa, S.; Englund, D. Chip-integrated ultrafast graphene photodetector with high responsivity. Nat. Photonics 2013, 7, 883–887.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Khan, M. A.; Kuznia, J. N.; Olson, D. T.; Blasingame, M.; Bhattarai, A. R. Schottky barrier photodetector based on Mg-doped p-type GaN films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 1993, 63, 2455–2456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Zhang, Y. Z.; Liu, T.; Meng, B.; Li, X. H.; Liang, G. Z.; Hu, X. N.; Zhang, Q. J. Broadband high photoresponse from pure monolayer graphene photodetector. Nat. Commun. 2013, 4, 1811.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Lopez-Sanchez, O.; Lembke, D.; Kayci, M.; Radenovic, A.; Kis, A. Ultrasensitive photodetectors based on monolayer MoS2. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2013, 8, 497–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Ji, Q. Q.; Zhang, Y. F.; Gao, T.; Zhang, Y.; Ma, D. L.; Liu, M. X.; Chen, Y. B.; Qiao, X. F.; Tan, P. H.; Kan, M., et al. Epitaxial monolayer MoS2 on mica with novel photoluminescence. Nano Lett. 2013, 13, 3870–3877.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Najmaei, S.; Liu, Z.; Zhou, W.; Zou, X. L.; Shi, G.; Lei, S. D.; Yakobson, B. I.; Idrobo, J. C.; Ajayan, P. M.; Lou, J. Vapour phase growth and grain boundary structure of molybdenum disulphide atomic layers. Nat. Mater. 2013, 12, 753–759.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Genut, M.; Margulis, L.; Hodes, G.; Tenne, R. Preparation and microstructure WS2 thin films. Thin Solid Films, 1992, 217, 91–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Leão, C. R.; Lordi, V. Ab initio guided optimization of GaTe for radiation detection applications. Phys. Rev. B 2011, 84, 165206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Bose, D. N.; Pal, S. Photoconductivity, low-temperature conductivity, and magnetoresistance studies on the layered semiconductor GaTe. Phys. Rev. B 2001, 63, 235321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Mandal, K. C.; Krishna, R. M.; Hayes, T. C.; Muzykov, P. G.; Das, S.; Sudarshan, T. S.; Ma, S. G. Layered GaTe crystals for radiation detectors. IEEE Trans. Nucl Sci. 2011, 58, 1981–1986.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Julien, C.; Ivanov, I.; Ecrepont, C.; Guittard, M. Optical and electrical properties of Ga2Te3 crystals. Phys. Statu. Solidi (a) 1994, 145, 207–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Konstantatos, G.; Howard, I.; Fischer, A.; Hoogland, S.; Clifford, J.; Klem, E.; Levina, L.; Sargent, E. H. Ultrasensitive solution-cast quantum dot photodetectors. Nature 2006, 442, 180–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Loudon, R. The Raman effect in crystals. Adv. Phys. 2001, 50, 813–864.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Lee, C.; Yan, H.; Brus, L. E.; Heinz, T. F.; Hone, J.; Ryu, S. Anomalous lattice vibrations of single- and few-layer MoS2. ACS Nano 2010, 4, 2695–2700.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Late, D. J.; Liu, B.; Matte, H. S. S. R.; Rao, C. N. R.; Dravid, V. P. Rapid characterization of ultrathin layers of chalcogenides on SiO2/Si substrates. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2012, 22, 1894–1905.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Harper, P. G.; Hilder, J. A. Exciton spectra in thin crystals. Phys. Status Solidi (b). 1968, 26, 69–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Radisavljevic, B.; Radenovic, A.; Brivio, J.; Giacometti, V.; Kis, A. Single-layer MoS2 transistors. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2011, 6, 147–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Late, D. J.; Liu, B.; Luo, J. J.; Yan, A. M.; Matte, H. S. S. R.; Grayson, M.; Rao, C. N. R.; Dravid, V. P. GaS and GaSe ultrathin layer transistors. Adv. Mater. 2012, 24, 3549–3554.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Perdew, J. P.; Burke, K.; Ernzerhof, M. Generalized gradient approximation made simple. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1996, 77, 3865–3868.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Kresse, G.; Joubert, D. From ultrasoft pseudopotentials to the projector augmented-wave method. Phys. Rev. B 1999, 59, 1758–1775.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Microsystem and Microstructure, Harbin Institute of Technology, Ministry of Education, No. 2 Yikuang Street, Harbin, 150080, China

    Pingan Hu, Jia Zhang, Wei Feng, Wei Zheng, Jingjing Liu & Xiaona Wang

  2. Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, One Bethel Valley Road, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Mina Yoon, Juan C. Idrobo, David B. Geohegan & Kai Xiao

  3. State Key Laboratory of Superlattices and Microstructures, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xiao-Fen Qiao, Xin Zhang & Pingheng Tan

Authors
  1. Pingan Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jia Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mina Yoon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Xiao-Fen Qiao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Xin Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Wei Feng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Pingheng Tan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Wei Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Jingjing Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Xiaona Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Juan C. Idrobo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. David B. Geohegan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Kai Xiao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Pingan Hu, Pingheng Tan or Kai Xiao.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hu, P., Zhang, J., Yoon, M. et al. Highly sensitive phototransistors based on two-dimensional GaTe nanosheets with direct bandgap. Nano Res. 7, 694–703 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0430-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0430-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation