A flexible barium strontium titanate photodetector array

The development of methods for implementing solid state imaging electronics on flexible substrates could impact areas including conformable infrared detection, night vision, and medical imaging. Various unconventional mechanisms for solid state imaging have been demonstrated. However, solid state imaging electronics have rarely been developed in a flexible form factor, which is a critical format for next-generation devices such as wearable displays, conformable imaging arrays, and electronic paper. Among various potential mechanisms for solid state imaging, smart materials are particularly attractive due to their inherent ability for converting external stimuli into electrical signals directly. Here, we introduce a flexible photodetector array that is enabled by growing a barium strontium titanate (BST) film on a flexible substrate. A pixelated array is then patterned on the film. When a spatially resolved laser beam is rastered over the film, pixels are individually illuminated. By recording the signals from all pixels, the laser trace can be successfully reconstructed, thereby realizing a flexible photodetector array.