UV and IR photodetectors offer unrivalled performance

A team of researchers from INAC and Institut Néel developed UV and IR photodetectors offering unrivalled performance. The devices are based on a single gallium nitride nanowire. The first, which detects UV B rays, is three times more responsive than the current state of the art. The second can detect IR rays in 100 femtoseconds in the 1.5 µm band used for fiber optic telecommunications. This record performance makes the detector compatible with data transfer speeds of around a terabit per second. The innovations were made possible by new GaN/AlN heterostructures that make up the nanowire; quantum phenomena confined to the structures’ conduction band provide the nanowires’ photodetection capabilities. When placed on a silicon nitride membrane the nanowires can be observed individually by TEM.

Contact: eva.monroy@cea.fr

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