Fast Response Characteristics of Flexible Ultraviolet Photosensors with GaN Nanowires and Graphene

We report the fast response characteristics of flexible ultraviolet photosensors with GaN nanowires (NWs) and a graphene channel. The GaN NWs used as light-absorbing media are horizontally and randomly embedded in a graphene sandwich structure in which the number of bottom graphene layers is varied from zero to three and the top is a fixed single layer of graphene. In the response curve of the photosensor with a double-layer bottom graphene, as obtained under pulsed illumination with a pulse width of 50 ms and a duty cycle of 50%, the rise and decay times were measured as 24.1 ± 0.1 and 28.2 ± 0.1 ms, respectively. The eye-crossing percentage was evaluated as 52.1%, indicating no substantial distortion of the duty cycle and no pulse symmetry problem. The rise and decay times estimated from an equivalent circuit analysis represented by resistances and capacitances agree well with the measured values. When the device was under the bending condition, the rise and decay times of the photosensor were comparable to those in the unbent state.