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Photoconductivity of biased graphene

Nature Photonics volume 7, pages 53–59 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Graphene is a promising candidate for optoelectronic applications such as photodetectors, terahertz imagers and plasmonic devices. The origin of the photoresponse in graphene junctions has been studied extensively and is attributed to either thermoelectric or photovoltaic effects. In addition, hot carrier transport and carrier multiplication are thought to play an important role. Here, we report the intrinsic photoresponse in biased but otherwise homogeneous graphene. In this classic photoconductivity experiment, the thermoelectric effects are insignificant. Instead, the photovoltaic and a photo-induced bolometric effect dominate the photoresponse. The measured photocurrent displays polarity reversal as it alternates between these two mechanisms in a backgate voltage sweep. Our analysis yields elevated electron and phonon temperatures, with the former an order higher than the latter, shedding light on the understanding of the hot electron-driven photoresponse in graphene and its energy loss pathway via phonons.

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Figure 1: Photoconductivity (a.c.) of graphene with and without bias.
Figure 2: Photocurrent (a.c.) as a function of gate voltage.
Figure 3: Gate and drain voltage dependence of the photocurrent in the centre of the graphene detector.
Figure 4: Thermoelectric, bolometric and photovoltaic components of the graphene photocurrent.
Figure 5: Magnitude of bolometric and photovoltaic effects and determination of the hot electron and lattice temperatures.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank B. Ek and J. Bucchignano for help with device fabrication and V. Perebeinos for discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, 10598, USA

    Marcus Freitag, Tony Low, Fengnian Xia & Phaedon Avouris

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  1. Marcus Freitag
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All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Marcus Freitag or Fengnian Xia.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Freitag, M., Low, T., Xia, F. et al. Photoconductivity of biased graphene. Nature Photon 7, 53–59 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.314

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