Enhanced SWIR Light Detection in Organic Semiconductor Photodetectors through Up-Conversion of Mid-Gap Trap States

Shortwave-infrared (SWIR) photodetectors are vital for many scientific and industrial applications including surveillance, quality control and inspection. In recent decades, photodetectors based on organic semiconductors have emerged, demonstrating potential to add real value to broadband and narrowband imaging and sensing scenarios, where factors such as thermal budget sensitivity, large area aperture necessity, cost considerations, and lightweight and conformal flexibility demands are prioritized. It is now recognized that the performance of organic photodetectors (OPDs), notably their specific detectivity, is ultimately limited by trap states, universally present in disordered semiconductors. This work adopts an approach of utilizing these mid-gap states to specifically create a SWIR photo-response. To this end, this work introduces a somewhat counter-intuitive approach of “trap-doping” in bulk heterojunction (BHJs) photodiodes, where small quantities of a guest organic molecule are intentionally incorporated into a semiconducting donor:acceptor host system. Following this approach, this work demonstrates a proof-of-concept for a visible-to-SWIR broadband OPD, approaching (and, to some extent, even exceeding) state-of-the-art performance across critical photodetector metrics. The trap-doping approach is, even though only a proof-of-concept currently, broadly applicable to various spectral windows. It represents a new modality for engineering photodetection using the unconventional strategy of turning a limitation into a feature.