Recent progress of group III-V materials-based nanostructures for photodetection

Abstract Due to the suitable bandgap structure, efficient conversion rates of photon to electron, adjustable optical bandgap, high electron mobility/aspect ratio, low defects, and outstanding optical and electrical properties for device design, III–V semiconductors have shown excellent properties for optoelectronic applications, including photodiodes, photodetectors, solar cells, photocatalysis, etc. In particular, III–V nanostructures have attracted considerable interest as a promising photodetector platform, where high-performance photodetectors can be achieved based on the geometry-related light absorption and carrier transport properties of III–V materials. However, the detection ranges from Ultraviolet to Terahertz including broadband photodetectors of III–V semiconductors still have not been more broadly development despite significant efforts to obtain the high performance of III–V semiconductors. Therefore, the recent development of III–V photodetectors in a broad detection range from Ultraviolet to Terahertz, and future requirements are highly desired. In this review, the recent development of photodetectors based on III–V semiconductor with different detection range is discussed. First, the bandgap of III–V materials and synthesis methods of III–V nanostructures are explored, subsequently, the detection mechanism and key figures-of-merit for the photodetectors are introduced, and then the device performance and emerging applications of photodetectors are provided. Lastly, the challenges and future research directions of III–V materials for photodetectors are presented.