Detection of light, X-rays, and gamma rays using graphene field effect transistors fabricated on SiC, CdTe, and AlGaAs/GaAs substrates

Abstract

Our work demonstrates the potential of gated graphene field effect transistors (GFETs) fabricated on a variety of undoped semiconductor substrates such as SiC, CdTe, and GaAs to sense ionizing radiation with promise of high sensitivity, low noise, low power, and room temperature operation. We exploit distinct material properties of different substrates to address different application regimes. Radiation detection with GFET is based on the high sensitivity of graphene resistivity on local electric field perturbations caused by ionized charges generated in the radiation absorbing semiconductor substrate. Light, X-rays, and gamma rays have been detected in our experiments.