Next Generation Photodiode, can Tungsten do Anything?

According to Korean news reports, a research team of photoelectric materials at the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KIST) has combined tungsten oxide nanofilms with one-dimensional zinc oxide nanowires to develop next-generation photodiode devices that can sense ultraviolet to near-infrared radiation. The devices have a dual-core structure of nanowire semiconductors.

Photodiode element is an important part that affects the pixels of mobile phone camera and digital camera. The image sensor used in the camera can sense light through the photodiode element, convert it into electronic signal, and then process the signal through the chip. Low-dimensional nano-semiconductor materials are the main development direction of semiconductor materials in the future.

Tungsten selenide (WSe₂), a two-dimensional material used by researchers, is a p-type semiconductor material. It has excellent light response characteristics and excellent hole transfer. It has been widely used in the manufacture and research of flexible display screens, sensors and other flexible electronic components. One-dimensional zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires are one of the most promising one-dimensional semiconductor materials in the future. They are also applied materials for electronic devices with high electron mobility to n-type semiconductor materials and high performance. Researchers have developed a photodiode element, which is a blend of one-dimensional zinc oxide nanowires and two-dimensional tungsten diselenide nanofilms with double structures. A new type of photodiode element is fabricated by vapor deposition and applied to image sensor pixels.

This material can be used to make very thin photosensitive components, such as cameras for foldable mobile phones. During the testing of the new material, the researchers found that the image sensor in the camera can detect the visible light from the photodiode device very sensitively and convert it into an electrical signal, which is processed by the driving circuit chip.

Researchers have also successfully used hybrid photodiode devices as image sensor pixels to image the popular Korean children's animation "Pororo" character images. The results exceed expectations. They hope that this research will contribute to the commercialization of the next generation of image sensor devices. The research results are published in the international academic journal Advanced Functional Materials. (China Tungsten Online: Weiping)

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