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Broadband convolutional processing using band-alignment-tunable heterostructures

Nature Electronics volume 5, pages 248–254 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Broadband convolutional processing is critical to high-precision image recognition and is of use in remote sensing and environmental monitoring. Implementing in-sensor broadband convolutional processing using conventional complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technology is, however, challenging because broadband sensing and convolutional processing require the use of the same physical processes. Here we show that a palladium diselenide/molybdenum ditelluride van der Waals heterostructure can provide simultaneous broadband image sensing and convolutional processing. The band alignment between type-II and type-III heterojunctions of the photovoltaic heterostructure is gate tunable, and the devices exhibit linear light-intensity dependence for both positive and negative photoconductivity, as well as linear gate dependence for the broadband photoresponse. Our in-sensor broadband convolutional processing improves recognition accuracy for multi-band images compared with conventional single-band-based convolutional neural networks.

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Fig. 1: Flow and mechanism for in-sensor BCP.
Fig. 2: Gate-tunable broadband positive and negative photovoltaic effects of PdSe2/MoTe2 heterostructures.
Fig. 3: Illustration of characteristics of PdSe2/MoTe2 heterostructures for in-sensor BCP.
Fig. 4: Implementation of BCP with a vdW heterostructure photosensor.

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Data availability

The data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 52172144 (X.Z.), 21825103 (T.Z.), U21A2069 (T.Z.), 62122036 (S.-J.L.), 62034004 (F.M.) and 61974176 (S.-J.L.)), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2021YFA1200500 (X.Z.)) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB44000000 (F.M.)). We also thank the Analytical and Testing Center at Huazhong University of Science and Technology for their support.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Lejing Pi, Pengfei Wang, Shi-Jun Liang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Lejing Pi, Peng Luo, Haoyun Wang, Dongyan Li, Zexin Li, Ping Chen, Xing Zhou & Tianyou Zhai

  2. Institute of Brain-Inspired Intelligence, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Pengfei Wang, Shi-Jun Liang & Feng Miao

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  1. Lejing Pi
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Contributions

L.P., X.Z., S.-J.L. and T.Z. conceived the concept and designed the experiments. L.P. prepared the heterostructures, performed the optoelectronic measurements and fabricated the devices with the help of X.Z. and P.C. D.L. and Z.L. performed the Raman and AFM characterizations. H.W., P.W. and P.L. designed the schematic. P.W., S.-J.L. and F.M. performed the BCP for the photosensor. All the authors analysed the data and wrote the manuscript together with discussion.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xing Zhou, Feng Miao or Tianyou Zhai.

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Pi, L., Wang, P., Liang, SJ. et al. Broadband convolutional processing using band-alignment-tunable heterostructures. Nat Electron 5, 248–254 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-022-00747-5

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