Design and Integration of a Layered MoS2/GaN van der Waals Heterostructure for Wide Spectral Detection and Enhanced Photoresponse

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) as a typical two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal dichalcogenide exhibits great potential applications for the next-generation nanoelectronics such as photodetectors. However, most MoS2-based photodetectors hold obvious disadvantages including a narrow spectral response in the visible region, poor photoresponsivity, and slow response speed. Here, for the first time, we report the design of a two-dimensional MoS2/GaN van der Waals (vdWs) heterostructure photodetector consisting of few-layer p-type MoS2 and very thin n-type GaN flakes. Thanks to the good crystal quality of the 2D-GaN flake and the built-in electric field in the interface depletion region of the MoS2/GaN p-n junction, photogenerated carriers can be rapidly separated and more excitons are collected by electrodes toward the high photoresponsivity of 328 A/W and a fast response time of 400 ms under the illumination of 532 nm light, which is seven times faster than pristine MoS2 flake. Additionally, the response spectrum of the photodetector is also broadened to the UV region with a high photoresponsivity of 27.1 A/W and a fast response time of 300 ms after integrating with the 2D-GaN flake, exhibiting an advantageous synergetic effect. These excellent performances render MoS2/GaN vdWs heterostructure photodetectors as promising and competitive candidates for next-generation optoelectronic devices.