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We discussed photocurrent spectra of photovoltaic PbS infrared detectors using multi-layer graphene as transparent electrode, where p-PbS films were deposited on TiO2/FTO substrates by chemical bath deposition. In the photocurrent spectra, we observed both above-bandgap and sub-bandgap photocurrent without any external bias. We discussed impurity band model and grain boundary model in order to explain the sub-bandgap photocurrent near 15 μm. Since FTO is transparent in the visible range, we were able to illuminate green laser beam from the FTO back-side, and photo-response up to 50 μm was found to be enhanced. This long wavelength photo-response was attributed to the excitation of the photo-electrons accumulated at the TiO2/PbS interface. Our photovoltaic PbS devices can detect not only short-infrared but also terahertz radiation at room temperature, which is highly applicable to various fields.

In order to improve EQE, we have investigated on the role of multilayer graphene (MLG) on the electrical and optical properties of GaN based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with ultrathin ITO (5 nm or 10 nm)/p-GaN contacts. The MLG was transferred on the ITO/p-GaN to decrease sheet resistance of thin ITO p-electrode and improve the current spreading of LEDs. The LEDs with the ITO 5 nm and MLG/ITO 5 nm structures showed 3.25 and 3.06 V at 20 mA, and 11.69 and 13.02 mW/sr at 400 mA, respectively. After forming MLG on ITO 5 nm, the electro-optical properties were enhanced. Furthermore, the GaN based-LEDs applied to the ITO 10 nm, and MLG/ITO (10 nm) structures showed 2.95 and 3.06 V at 20 mA, and 20.28 and 16.74 mW/sr at 400 mA, respectively. The sheet resistance of the MLG transferred to ITO 5 nm was decreased approximately four fold compared to ITO 5 nm. On the other hand, the ITO 10 nm and MLG/ITO 10 nm showed a similar sheet resistance; the transmittance of the LEDs with ITO 10 nm decreased to 16% due to MLG formation on ITO. This suggests that the relationship between the sheet resistance and transmittance according to the ITO film thickness affected the electro-optical properties of the LEDs with a transparent p-electrode with the MLG/ITO dual structure.

We propose a graphene-based optical modulator and comprehensively investigate its photonic characteristics by electrically controlling the device with an ion-gel top-gate dielectric. The density of the electrically driven charge carriers in the ion-gel gate dielectric plays a key role in tuning the optical output power of the device. The charge density at the ion-gel-graphene interface is tuned electrically, and the chemical potential of graphene is then changed to control its light absorption strength. The optical behavior of the ion-gel gate dielectric exhibits a large hysteresis which originates from the inherent nature of the ionic gel and the graphene-ion-gel interface and a slow polarization response time of ions. The photonic device is applicable to both TE- and TM-polarized light waves, covering two entire optical communication bands, the O-band (1.26-1.36 μm) and the C-band (1.52-1.565 μm). The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretically simulated predictions. The temporal behavior of the ion-gel-graphene-integrated optical modulator reveals a long-term modulation state because of the relatively low mobility of the ions in the ion-gel solution and formation of the electric double layer in the graphene-ion-gel interface. Fast dynamic recovery is observed by applying an opposite voltage gate pulse. This study paves the way to the understanding of the operational principles and future applications of ion-gel-gated graphene optical devices in photonics.

van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures with two-dimensional (2D) crystals such as graphene, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) allow us to demonstrate atomically thin field-effect transistors (FETs), photodetectors (PDs) and photovoltaic devices capable of higher performance and greater stability levels than conventional devices. Although there have been studies of gas molecule sensing with 2D crystal channels, vdW heterostructures based on 2D crystals have not been employed thus far. Here, utilizing graphene/WS2/graphene (G/WS2/G) vdW heterostructure tunnel FETs, we demonstrate the rectification behavior of the sensitivity signal by tuning the WS2 potential barriers as a function of the gas molecule concentration and devise a fingerprint map of the sensitivity variation corresponding to an individual ratio of two different molecules in a gas mixture. Because the separation of different gas molecule concentrations from gas mixtures is in high demand in the gas-sensing research field, this result will greatly assist in the progress on selective gas sensing.

Optical tactile sensors based on a directional coupler have been widely investigated because of their many advantages. However, one important requirement limits their wide application: the refractive index of the upper superstrate must be equal to or larger than that of the optical waveguide core. To overcome this disadvantage, an optical waveguide tactile sensor using graphene is proposed and its operational feasibility was validated experimentally. The pressure-dependent lateral deformation of the low-index prism-like microstructure on an elastomer superstrate has a key role in optically measuring the mechanical pressure. By mechanically varying the lateral deformation area, the waveguide core-graphene-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) interface area was adjusted and the amount of light absorption by graphene became tunable, even when the refractive index of the superstrate was lower than that of the waveguide core. The dynamic response of the sensor was accurately matched to the repeated pressing and release time of the pressure, and exhibited a real-time response to multi-stepped mechanical pressing and releasing using a piezoelectric motor. The proposed graphene-based optical tactile sensor is foundational to the use of a wide range of materials for overcoming the shortcoming of a directional coupler-based optical tactile sensor.

Direct detection of hot electrons generated by exothermic surface reactions on nanocatalysts is an effective strategy to obtain insight into electronic excitation during chemical reactions. For this purpose, we fabricated a novel catalytic nanodiode based on a Schottky junction between a single layer of graphene and an n-type TiO2 layer that enables the detection of hot electron flows produced by hydrogen oxidation on Pt nanoparticles. By making a comparative analysis of data obtained from measuring the hot electron current (chemicurrent) and turnover frequency, we demonstrate that graphene's unique electronic structure and extraordinary material properties, including its atomically thin nature and ballistic electron transport, allow improved conductivity at the interface between the catalytic Pt nanoparticles and the support. Thereby, graphene-based nanodiodes offer an effective and facile way to approach the study of chemical energy conversion mechanisms in composite catalysts with carbon-based supports.

Multilayer graphene (MLG)/ITO transparent n-electrodes for high-efficiency III-nitride light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were fabricated. MLG was grown on Ni/SiO2/Si substrates using a chemical vapor deposition method and transferred to the ITO transparent n-electrodes of the LEDs. The properties were analyzed by electroluminescence measurements, Raman spectroscopy, and radiant intensity–current testing. The external quantum efficiency (EQE) was enhanced greatly by the MLG/ITO dual layers as transparent n-electrodes in LEDs. The EQE and radiant intensity at an injection current of 200 mA of the LEDs with the MLG/ITO transparent n-electrodes were improved by 33 and 32%, respectively, which was attributed to the improved light extraction through the transparent ITO n-electrodes as well as the enhanced current spreading by the MLG on the ITO layer. The high transmittance and outstanding current spreading of the MLG/ITO transparent n-electrodes have great potential for advanced transparent conducting n-electrodes in optoelectronic devices.

Since the successful exfoliation of graphene, various methodologies have been developed to identify the number of layers of exfoliated graphene. The optical contrast, Raman G-peak intensity, and 2D-peak line-shape are currently widely used as the first level of inspection for graphene samples. Although the combination analysis of G- and 2D-peaks is powerful for exfoliated graphene samples, its use is limited in chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown graphene because CVD-grown graphene consists of various domains with randomly rotated crystallographic axes between layers, which makes the G- and 2D-peaks analysis difficult for use in number identification. We report herein that the Raman Si-peak intensity can be a universal measure for the number identification of multilayered graphene. We synthesized a few-layered graphene via the CVD method and performed Raman spectroscopy. Moreover, we measured the Si-peak intensities from various individual graphene domains and correlated them with the corresponding layer numbers. We then compared the normalized Si-peak intensity of the CVD-grown multilayer graphene with the exfoliated multilayer graphene as a reference and successfully identified the layer number of the CVD-grown graphene. We believe that this Si-peak analysis can be further applied to various 2-dimensional (2D) materials prepared by both exfoliation and chemical growth.

The carrier injection efficiencies of organic light-emitting diodes with a multilayer graphene (MLG) anode were compared for different hole injection layers (HIL). The energy level alignments at the hole injecting interface were also studied by using the ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS). We employed 1,1-bis[4-[N,N′-di(p-tolyl)amino]phenyl]cyclohexane (TAPC) as the hole transporting materials, while N,N′-bis(naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N′-bis(phenyl)benzidine (NPB) or 1,4,5,8,9,12-hexaaza-triphenylene-2,3,6,7,10,11-hexacarbonitrile (HAT-CN) was used as the HIL. The current–voltage characteristics of hole-only devices showed that the MLG anode was only slightly inferior to the indium-tin oxide (ITO) anode in hole injection performance for all the HIL layers. The best efficiency was observed for both MLG and ITO anodes with HAT-CN HIL. We compared UPS-measured energy level alignment of TAPC/HIL/MLG interface for different HILs and concluded that the unique charge generation interface at TAPC/HAT-CN played a crucial role for the improved performance of HAT-CN HIL.

As an innovative anode for organic light emitting devices (OLEDs), we have investigated graphene films. Graphene has importance due to its huge potential in flexible OLED applications. In this work, graphene films have been catalytically grown and transferred to the glass substrate for OLED fabrications. We have successfully fabricated 2 mm × 2 mm device area blue fluorescent OLEDs with graphene anodes which showed 2.1% of external quantum efficiency at 1000 cd/m 2 . This is the highest value reported among fluorescent OLEDs using graphene anodes. Oxygen plasma treatment on graphene has been found to improve hole injections in low voltage regime, which has been interpreted as oxygen plasma induced work function modification. However, plasma treatment also increases the sheet resistance of graphene, limiting the maximum luminance. In summary, our works demonstrate the practical possibility of graphene as an anode material for OLEDs and suggest a processing route which can be applied to various graphene related devices.

High-performance transistors using semiconducting nanowires are very promising devices for flexible or transparent electronic applications. However, nanowire-based transistors inevitably have placement and alignment issues, which make them troublesome for real-world applications and can be limiting factors in novel applications. Here we present a novel device structure that can be easily adapted for producing high-yield nanowire transistors. We fabricated fully transparent circular tin oxide (SnO(2)) nanowire transistors employing multilayer graphene films (MGFs) as a seed electrode and aligned nanowires as a semiconductor channel. The nanowires were grown directly on MGFs without metal catalysts through a vapor-solid (VS) mechanism. On the basis of these properties, aligned SnO(2) nanowires were grown only on the exposed MGF using patterned MGF/SiO(2) structures. Regardless of the growth direction of the nanowires centered on the MGF, the as-grown nanowires can play the role of transistor channels because of the circular shape of the gate and the source-drain electrodes. Consequently, the yield rate of circular nanowire transistor structure was around two times as high as that of existing linear nanowire transistor structure.

In this paper, we have investigated the size effect of nano scale PRAM using three-dimensional finite element analysis tool. The reset current and temperature profile of PRAM cells with top and bottom electrode contact hole size were calculated by the numerical method. And temperature profile of PRAM unit cell with size and thickness of GST thin film was simulated. As top electrode contact size was smaller, reset current decreased. But these variations couldn't affect to operate memory. On the other hand, as bottom electrode contact size was smaller, reset current abruptly decreased.

Carrier multiplication (i.e. generation of multiple electron–hole pairs from a single high-energy electron, CM) in graphene has been extensively studied both theoretically and experimentally, but direct application of hot carrier multiplication in graphene has not been reported. Here, taking advantage of efficient CM in graphene, we fabricated graphene/TiO2 Schottky nanodiodes and found CM-driven enhancement of quantum efficiency. The unusual photocurrent behavior was observed and directly compared with Fowler’s law for photoemission on metals. The Fowler’s law exponent for the graphene-based nanodiode is almost twice that of a thin gold film based diode; the graphene-based nanodiode also has a weak dependence on light intensity—both are significant evidence for CM in graphene. Furthermore, doping in graphene significantly modifies the quantum efficiency by changing the Schottky barrier. The CM phenomenon observed on the graphene/TiO2 nanodiodes can lead to intriguing applications of viable graphene-based light harvesting.

Graphene has been received a considerable amount of attention as a transparent conducting electrode (TCE) which may be able to replace indium tin oxide (ITO) to overcome the significant weakness of the poor flexibility of ITO. Given that graphene is the thinnest 2-dimensional (2D) material known, it shows extremely high flexibility, and its lateral periodic honeycomb structure of sp2-bonded carbon atoms enables ~2.3% of incident light absorption per layer. However, there is a trade-off between the electrical resistance and the optical transmittance, and the fixed absorption rate in graphene limits is use when fabricating devices. Therefore, a more efficient method which continuously controls the optical and electrical properties of graphene is needed. Here, we introduce a method which controls the optical transmittance and the electrical resistance of graphene through various thicknesses of the top Cu layers with a Cu/Ni metal catalyst structure used to fabricate a planar mesh pattern of single and multi-layer graphene. We exhibit a continuous transmittance change from 85% (MLG) to 97.6% (SLG) at an incident light wavelength of 550 nm on graphene samples simultaneously grown in a CVD quartz tube. We also investigate the relationships between the sheet resistances.

In this paper, we demonstrate recent progress in graphene-based photonic waveguide devices such as polymer waveguide polarizer, thermo-optic mode extinction modulator and plasmonic photodetector for graphene-based photonic integrated circuits.

In this work, we demonstrate fully uniform blue fluorescence graphene anode OLEDs, which have an emission area of 10u7 mm 2 . Catalytically grown multilayered graphene films have been used as the anode material. In order to compensate the current drop, which is due to the graphene’s electrical resistance, we have furnished metal bus lines on the support. Processing and optical issues involved in graphene anode OLED fabrications are presented. The fabricated OLEDs with graphene anode showed comparable performances to that of ITO anode OLEDs. Our works shows that metal bus furnished graphene anode can be extended into large area OLED lighting applications in which flexibility and transparency is required.

We demonstrate an electrically controllable light-matter interaction in a gate-controlled active graphene terahertz metamaterial, which shows an electrically controlled memory effect as well as the modulation of terahertz waves in the extreme subwavelength-scale.

The extraordinary electronic properties of graphene, such as its continuously gate-variable ambipolar field effect and the resulting steep change in resistivity, provided the main thrusts for the rapid advance of graphene electronics. The gate-controllable electronic properties of graphene provide a route to efficiently manipulate the interaction of low-energy photons with massless Dirac fermions, which has recently sparked keen interest in graphene plasmonics. However, the electro-optic tuning capability of unpatterned graphene alone is still not strong enough for practical optoelectronic applications due to its nonresonant Drude-like behaviour. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that substantial gate-induced persistent switching and linear modulation of terahertz waves can be achieved in a two-dimensional artificial material, referred to as a metamaterial, into which an atomically thin, gated two-dimensional graphene layer is integrated. The gate-controllable light-matter interaction in the graphene layer can be greatly enhanced by the strong resonances and the corresponding field enhancement in the metamaterial. Although the thickness of the embedded single-layer graphene is more than 'six' orders of magnitude smaller than the wavelength (< {\lambda}/1,000,000), the one-atom-thick layer, in conjunction with the metamaterial, can modulate both the amplitude of the transmitted wave by up to 90 per cent and its phase by more than 40 degrees at room temperature. More interestingly, the gate-controlled active graphene metamaterials show hysteretic behaviour in the transmission of terahertz waves, especially when fabricated with multilayer graphene, which is indicative of persistent photonic memory effects.

We developed a planar-type graphene-based plasmonic photodetector (PD) for the development of all-graphene photonic-integrated-circuits (PICs). By configuring the graphene plasmonic waveguide and PD structure all-in-one, the proposed graphene PD detects horizontally incident light. The photocurrent profile with opposite polarity is the maximum at graphene-electrode interfaces due to a Schottky-like barrier effect at the interface. The photocurrent amplitude increases with an increase of the graphene-metal interface length. Obtaining time constants of less than 39.7 ms for the time response, we concluded that the proposed graphene PD could be exploited further for application in all graphene-based PICs. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America

Graphene, a two-dimensional one-atom-thick planar sheet of carbon atoms densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice, has attracted appreciable attention due to its extraordinary mechanical, thermal, electrical, and optical properties. One of these properties, graphene's outstanding tensile strength, allows graphene-based electronic and photonic devices to be flexible, stretchable, and foldable. In this work, we propose a novel platform technology and architecture of graphene-based flexible photonic devices for the development of high-performance flexible devices and components. We investigated the characteristics of the graphene-based plasmonic waveguide for the development of high-performance optical interconnection in flexible human-friendly optoelectronic devices. We concluded that graphene-based photonic devices have huge potential for the development of next-generation human-friendly flexible optoelectronic systems.

We present a flexible room temperature NO2 gas sensor consisting of vertical carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/reduced graphene hybrid film supported by a polyimide substrate. The reduced graphene film alone showed a negligible sensor response, exhibiting abnormal N–P transitions during the initial NO2 injection. A hybrid film, formed by the growth of a vertically aligned CNT array (with CNTs 20 μm in length) on the reduced graphene film surface, exhibited remarkably enhanced sensitivities with weak N–P transitions. The increase in sensitivity was mainly attributed to the high sensitivity of the CNT arrays. The outstanding flexibility of the reduced graphene films ensured stable sensing performances in devices submitted to extreme bending stress.

Based on graphene plasmonic waveguides, we developed a graphene plasmonic photodetector to detect horizontally incident light signal. The photocurrent is the maximum at the graphene-metal interface and the time constant is less than 39.7 ms.

We demonstrate an electrically controllable light-matter interaction in a gate-controlled active graphene metamaterial, which shows an electrically controlled memory effect as well as the modulation of terahertz waves in the extreme subwavelength-scale.