Photonic devices made from conducting polymers: new developments

Summary form only given. We present recent progress on polymer devices developed at UCSB. We have fabricated polymer devices with dual functions: light emission and photodetection. The same Ca/MEH-PPV/ITO devices can be used as light emitting devices under forward bias with an external quantum efficiency of -I% photons/electron, and as photodiodes under reverse bias with a dc sensitivity of 90mA/Watt and quantum yield of -20% electrons/photon (~/spl mu/W/cm/sup 2/, 430nm). We have also fabricated P3OT photodiodes with excellent visible-UV sensitivity. For wavelengths shorter than 550 nm, the sensitivity is over 0.3A/Watt under reverse bias of 15 V, larger than that of commercial UV-enhanced Si photodiodes. By matching MEH-PPV LEDs with P30T photodiodes, we have demonstrated polymer optocouplers with a current transfer ratio of over 10/sup -3/, comparable to that of commercial optocouplers made with inorganic semiconductors.