High responsivity graphene photodetectors from visible to near-infrared by photogating effect

Abstract

Graphene photodetectors are highly attractive owing to its ultra-fast and wide-range spectral response from visible to infrared benefit from the superior carrier mobility and the linear dispersion with zero bandgap of graphene. The application of graphene photodetectors however is seriously limited by the low intrinsic responsivity in the order of ∼10 mA/W. Here, we demonstrate photogating field-effect transistors based on pure monolayer graphene with simple device structures. The light absorption in the heavily n-doped silicon/silicon oxide (Si/SiO2) substrate generates an additional photovoltage that effectively modulates the conductance of graphene, leading to room temperature graphene photodetectors with high responsivity of ∼500 A/W for 450 nm light and ∼4 A/W for 1064 nm light, respectively. The generated photocurrent changes with applied gate voltage and shows a strongly nonlinear power dependence. Meanwhile, the photoresponse of graphene exhibits a cut-off wavelength of ∼1100 nm, confirming the dominance photogating effect caused by light absorption in Si/SiO2 substrate. Considering the great compatibility of graphene to Si technology, our result paves a way for high-performance chip-integrated photodetectors.