Optics

Physics

Infrared

Responsivity

Metallurgy

Materials science

Quantum efficiency

Photodetector

Specific detectivity

Molybdenum disulfide

Optoelectronics

Photodiode

Detector

Nature Photonics

Infrared photodetectors are currently subject to a rapidly expanding application space, with an increasing demand for compact, sensitive and inexpensive detectors. Despite continued advancement, technological factors limit the widespread usage of such detectors, specifically, the need for cooling and the high costs associated with processing of iii–v/ii–vi semiconductors. Here, black phosphorous (bP)/MoS2 heterojunction photodiodes are explored as mid-wave infrared (MWIR) detectors. Although previous studies have demonstrated photodiodes using bP, here we significantly improve the performance, showing that such devices can be competitive with conventional MWIR photodetectors. By optimizing the device structure and light management, we demonstrate a two-terminal device that achieves room-temperature external quantum efficiencies (ηe) of 35% and specific detectivities (D*) as high as 1.1 × 1010 cm Hz1/2 W−1 in the MWIR region. Furthermore, by leveraging the anisotropic optical properties of bP we demonstrate the first bias-selectable polarization-resolved photodetector that operates without the need for external optics. Black phosphorus/molybdenum disulfide mid-wave infrared photodiodes with external quantum efficiencies of 35% across 2.5–3.5 μm at room temperature and a peak detectivity of 1.1 × 1010 cm Hz1/2 W–1 at 3.8 μm are demonstrated.

Polarization-resolved black phosphorus/molybdenum disulfide mid-wave infrared photodiodes with high detectivity at room temperature