Here, a smart strategy for decreasing the active layer thickness of the organic photodiode down to 70 nm is demonstrated by utilizing a trap-assisted photomultiplication mechanism with the optimized chemical composition. Despite the presence of a high dark current, dramatically enhanced external quantum efficiency (EQE) via photomultiplication can allow significantly reduced active layer thickness, yielding high detectivity comparable to that of conventional Si. To achieve this, a spatially confined and electrically isolated optical sensitizer, 2,2'-((2 Z,2' Z)-((4,4,9,9-tetrahexyl-4,9-dihydro- s-indaceno[1,2- b:5,6- b']dithiophene-2,7-diyl)bis(methanylylidene))bis(3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1 H-indene-2,1-diylidene))dimalononitrile (IDIC) was introduced strategically between a hole transport active layer and a cathode. A nonfullerene acceptor, IDIC, turned out to be a much more efficient sensitizer than the conventional fullerene-based acceptors, as confirmed by the effective lowering of the Schottky barrier under illumination, as well as the highest EQE exceeding 130 000%. Due to its favorable electronic structure as well as two-dimensional molecular structure, a high detectivity over 1012 Jones was successfully demonstrated while maintaining the active layer thickness as 70 nm.
Keywords: detectivity; external quantum efficiency; nonfullerene acceptor; photomultiplication; polymer photodetector.