A research team from Pennsylvania State University has developed a 900-pixel image sensor using an atomic-thin material. In an article published in the journal Nature Supplies, the group describes how they built their new sensors and how they can be used. Sensors that respond to light have become very common in today’s world – for example, a light that turns on when an intruder is detected. Such sensors usually consist of a grid of pixels, each of which responds to light. The performance of such sensors depends on the sensitivity measurement and which parts of the light they detect.
Most are designed with certain limits on the signal-to-noise ratio. In this new effort, the researchers noted that most such sensors are also very inefficient and consume much more electricity than they should.
To create a more efficient sensor, the researchers studied the materials used to make the sensors currently in use. As a rule, the base is a silicon complementary metal oxide semiconductor. And this was the basis on which the researchers focused their efforts. To make a sensor that would be more efficient, they replaced the traditional substrate with a material made of molybdenum disulfide, a material that can be grown as a one-atom-thick layer like graphene.
In their work, they grew it on a sapphire substrate using vapor deposition. He then lifted the finished product from the base and placed it on top of the silicon dioxide base that had been previously scraped with wire. They then finished their product by etching additional wire on top. The result of their work was a 30×30 grid, in which each pixel is a separate device; it was filtered by an electrode that not only detects light, but also makes it ready for use again once something is detected.
When evaluating the performance of their sensors, they found that it was much more efficient than those currently in use, with each pixel consuming less picojoules. They also found it very easy to drop it. A moment of tension in the series worked. On the other hand, the researchers discovered that it responds to light much more slowly than sensors currently in use. They point out that this suggests it could be used as a universal light sensor, but not as a camera mount. They also suggest it could be an ideal solution for sensors in various IoT applications.
Source: Port Altele
