Sub-nanosecond Infrared Photodetection using III-V Colloidal Quantum Dots

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are promising materials for IR light detection due to their tunable bandgap and solution processing; but to date, the time response of CQD IR photodiodes has been inferior to that provided by Si and InGaAs. We reasoned that the high permittivity of II-VI CQDs leads to slow charge extraction due to screening and capacitance; whereas III-Vs – if their surface chemistry could be mastered – offer a strong covalent character for low permittivity and fast operation. In initial studies, we found that existing covalent character led to imbalanced charge transport in InAs, the result of unpassivated surfaces and uncontrolled heavy doping. We report surface management using amphoteric ligand coordination and find that it addresses simultaneously the In and As surface dangling bonds. The new InAs CQD solids combine high mobility (0.04 cm2 V-1 s-1) with a 4x reduction in permittivity compared to PbS CQDs. The resulting photodiodes achieve a response time faster than 300 ps – a more than 100x improvement compared to the best previously-reported CQD photodiodes – combined with an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 30% at 940 nm.