Monolithically and in situ integrated PbS infrared imagers.

Room-temperature aqueous monolithic in situ integration enables quasi-single-crystalline PbS photodetectors on ROICs, achieving carrier density ~2 × 10^15 cm^-3 and mobility 124 cm^2 V^-1 s^-1 with wafer-scale pixel uniformity.

• Why it matters: Conventional detector-array bonding to ROICs increases complexity and cost, while ROIC-compatible growth of electronic-grade films has remained elusive.
• What they did: The authors regulate Pb-OH complexation and suppress environmental perturbations to grow PbS films directly on ROICs, then use antimony doping to form photodiodes and test a 640 × 512-pixel focal-plane array.
• The result: Antimony-doped PbS photodiodes show record specific detectivity of 4.4 × 10^11 Jones at 2.5 µm, enabling clear infrared imaging and direct integration onto flexible ROICs.