Photosensitive field-effect transistor based on a composite film of polyvinylcarbazole with nickel nanoparticles

The electronic and optoelectronic properties of field-effect transistor structures with an active layer based on composite films of a semiconducting polymer, namely, polyvinylcarbazole (PVC), with nickel nanoparticles have been investigated. It has been shown that these structures at low nickel concentrations (5–10 wt %) possess current-voltage characteristics that indicate an ambipolar transport. For the field-effect transistor structures based on PVC: Ni (Ni ∼ 5 wt %) films, the mobilities of electrons and holes are found to be ∼1.3 and ∼1.9 cm2/V s, respectively. It has been established that the photosensitivity observed in these structures is associated with the specific features of transport in the film of the polymer with nickel nanoparticles. The mechanism of this transport is determined by the modulation of electrical conductivity of the working channel of the field-effect transistor by applying a combination of incident light and gate voltages.