On-chip graphene photodetectors with a nonvolatile <italic style="font-style: italic">p</italic>–<italic style="font-style: italic">i</italic>–<italic style="font-style: italic">n</italic> homojunction

Ruijuan Tian; Yong Zhang; Yingke Ji; Chen Li; Xianghu Wu; Jianguo Wang; Shuaiwei Jia; Liang Liu; Mingwen Zhang; Yu Zhang; Qiao Zhang; Zhuang Xie; Zhengdong Luo; Duorui Gao; Yan Liu; Jianlin Zhao; Zhipei Sun; Xuetao Gan

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-01832-y

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

On-chip graphene photodetectors with a nonvolatile p–i–n homojunction

Original Articles

- On-chip graphene photodetectors with a nonvolatile p–i–n homojunction
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 8, Pages: 2360-2368(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Key Laboratory of Light Field Manipulation and Information Acquisition, and Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Optical Information Technology, School of Physical Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China
  2.Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
  3.State Key Discipline Laboratory of Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Technology, School of Microelectronics, Xi dian University, Xi'an, China
  4.State Key Laboratory of Transient Optics and Photonics, Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, China
  5.School of Microelectronics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China
- Author bio：
  
  Zhipei Sun (zhipei.sun@aalto.fi)
  Xuetao Gan (xuetaogan@nwpu.edu.cn)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-01832-y
  CLC：
- Received：01 July 2024，
  
  Revised：21 February 2025，
  
  Accepted：13 March 2025，
  
  Published Online：07 July 2025，
  
  Published：31 August 2025
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Tian, R. J. et al. On-chip graphene photodetectors with a nonvolatile p–i–n homojunction. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 2360-2368 (2025).
DOI：

Tian, R. J. et al. On-chip graphene photodetectors with a nonvolatile p–i–n homojunction. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 2360-2368 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-01832-y.

摘要

Abstract

Graphene's unique photothermoelectric (PTE) effect

combined with its compatibility for on-chip fabrication

promises its development in chip-integrated photodetectors wit

h ultralow dark-current and ultrafast speed. Previous designs of on-chip graphene photodetectors required external electrical biases or gate voltages to separate photocarriers

leading to increased power consumption and complex circuitry. Here

we demonstrate a nonvolatile graphene

–

homojunction constructed on a silicon photonic crystal waveguide

which facilitates PTE-based photodetection without the need for electrical bias or gate voltages. By designing an air-slotted photonic crystal waveguide as two individual silicon back gates and employing ferroelectric dielectrics with remnant polarization fields

the nonvolatile

–

homojunction with a clear gradient of Seebeck coefficient is electrically configured. Hot carriers in the graphene channel generated from the absorption of waveguide evanescent field are separated by the nonvolatile

–

homojunction effectively to yield considerable photocurrents. With zero-bias and zero-gate voltage

the nonvolatile graphene

–

homojunction photodetector integrated on the optical waveguide exhibits high and flat responsivity of 193 mA W

−1

over the broadband wavelength range of 1560–1630 nm and an ultrafast dynamics bandwidth of 17 GHz measured in the limits of our instruments. With the high-performance on-chip photodetection

the nonvolatile graphene homojunction directly constructed on silicon photonic circuits promises the extended on-chip functions of the optoelectronic synapse

in-memory sensing and computing

and neuromorphic computing.

关键词

Keywords

references

Romagnoli, M. et al. Graphene-based integrated photonics for next-generation datacom and telecom. Nat. Rev. Mater. 3 , 392–414 (2018)..

Wu, G. J. et al. Programmable transition metal dichalcogenide homojunctions controlled by nonvolatile ferroelectric domains. Nat. Electron. 3 , 43–50 (2020)..

Zhou, Z. C. et al. Prospects and applications of on-chip lasers. eLight 3 , 1 (2023)..

Lipson, M. The revolution of silicon photonics. Nat. Mater. 21 , 974–975 (2022)..

Shastri, B. J. et al. Photonics for artificial intelligence and neuromorphic computing. Nat. Photonics 15 , 102–114 (2021)..

Zhao, H. Q. et al. Integrated preparation and manipulation of high-dimensional flying structured p hotons. eLight 4 , 10 (2024)..

Heck, M. J. R. Highly integrated optical phased arrays: photonic integrated circuits for optical beam shaping and beam steering. Nanophotonics 6 , 93–107 (2017)..

Liu, X. et al. Laser-scribed graphene for sensors: preparation, modification, applications, and future prospects. Light Adv. Manuf. 4 , 14 (2023)..

Urich, A., Unterrainer, K. & Mueller, T. Intrinsic response time of graphene photodetectors. Nano Lett. 11 , 2804–2808 (2011)..

Dawlaty, J. M. et al. Measurement of the optical absorption spectra of epitaxial graphene from terahertz to visible. Appl. Phys. Lett. 93 , 131905 (2008)..

Gan, X. T. et al. Strong enhancement of light-matter interaction in graphene coupled to a photonic crystal nanocavity. Nano Lett. 12 , 5626–5631 (2012)..

Gabor, N. M. et al. Hot carrier-assisted intrinsic photoresponse in graphene. Science 334 , 648–652 (2011)..

Sun, D. et al. Ultrafast hot-carrier-dominated photocurrent in graphene. Nat. Nanotechnol. 7 , 114–118 (2012)..

Tielrooij, K. J. et al. Photoexcitation cascade and multiple hot-carrier generation in graphene. Nat. Phys. 9 , 248–252 (2013)..

Schuler, S. et al. High-responsivity graphene photodetectors integrated on silicon microring resonators. Nat. Commun. 12 , 3733 (2021)..

Song, J. C. W. et al. Hotcarrier transport and photocurrent response in graphene. Nano Lett. 11 , 4688–4692 (2011)..

Johannsen, J. C. et al. Direct view of hot carrier dynamics in graphene. Phys. Rev. Lett. 111 , 027403 (2013)..

Koepfli, S. M. et al. Metamaterial graphene photodetector with bandwidth exceeding 500 gigahertz. Science 380 , 1169–1174 (2023)..

Gan, X. T. et al. Chip-integrated ultrafast graphene photodetector with high responsivity. Nat. Photonics 7 , 883–887 (2013)..

Schuler, S. et al. Controlled generation of a p-n junction in a waveguide integrated graphene photodetector. Nano Lett. 16 , 7107–7112 (2016)..

Schuler, S. et al. Graphene photodetector integrated on a photonic crystal defect waveguide. ACS Photonics 5 , 4758–4763 (2018)..

Muench, J. E. et al. Waveguide-integrated, plasmonic enhanced graphene photodetectors. Nano Lett. 19 , 7632–7644 (2019)..

Gorecki, J. et al. Optical gating of graphene on photoconductive Fe: LiNbO 3 . ACS Nano 12 , 5940–5945 (2018)..

Guan, H. Y. et al. Broadband, high‐sensitivity graphene photodetector based on ferroelectric polarization of lithium niobate. Adv. Optical Mater. 9 , 2100245 (2021)..

Kundys, D. et al. Optically rewritable memory in a graphene-ferroelectric-photovoltaic heterostructure. Phys. Rev. Appl. 13 , 064034 (2020)..

Maity, K. et al. Graphene magnetoresistance control by photoferroelectric substrate. ACS Nano 18 , 4726–4732 (2024)..

Xu, X. D. et al. Photo-thermoelectric effect at a graphene interface junction. Nano Lett. 10 , 562–566 (2010)..

Baeumer, C. et al. Ferroelectrically driven spatial carrier density modulation in graphene. Nat. Commun. 6 , 6136 (2015)..

Wu, G. J. et al. MoTe 2 p–n homojunctions defined by ferroelectric polarization. Adv. Mater. 32 , 1907937 (2020)..

Li, C. et al. Waveguide-integrated MoTe 2 p – i – n homojunction photodetector. ACS Nano 16 , 20946–20955 (2022)..

Luo, Z. D. et al. Dual-ferroelectric-coupling-engineered two-dimensional transistors for multifunctional in-memory computing. ACS Nano 16 , 3362–3372 (2022)..

Youngblood, N. & Li, M. Ultrafast photocurrent measurements of a black phosphorus photodetector. Appl. Phys. Lett. 110 , 051102 (2017)..

Wu, G. J. et al. Ferroelectric-defined reconfigurable homojunctions for i n-memory sensing and computing. Nat. Mater. 22 , 1499–1506 (2023)..

Stadlober, B., Zirkl, M. & Irimia-Vladu, M. Route towards sustainable smart sensors: ferroelectric polyvinylidene fluoride-based materials and their integration in flexible electronics. Chem. Soc. Rev. 48 , 1787–1825 (2019)..

Wang, X. D. et al. Graphene Dirac point tuned by ferroelectric polarization field. Nanotechnology 29 , 134002 (2018)..

Meitl, M. A. et al. Transfer printing by kinetic control of adhesion to an elastomeric stamp. Nat. Mater. 5 , 33–38 (2006)..

Castellanos-Gomez, A. et al. Deterministic transfer of two-dimensional materials by all-dry viscoelastic stamping. 2D Mater. 1 , 011002 (2014)..

Tian, R. J. et al. Black phosphorus photodetector enhanced by a planar photonic crystal cavity. ACS Photonics 8 , 3104–3110 (2021)..

Li, C. et al. MoTe 2 PN homojunction constructed on a silicon photonic crystal cavity for high-performance photodetector. ACS Photonics 8 , 2431–2439 (2021)..

Tian, R. J. et al. Chip-integrated van der Waals PN heterojunction photodetector with low dark current and high responsivity. Light Sci. Appl. 11 , 101 (2022)..

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

No data

Related Author

No data

Related Institution

No data

⁰

On-chip graphene photodetectors with a nonvolatile p–i–n homojunction

DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-01832-y

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

references