A research group led by Prof. CAO Hongtao at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has developed a novel bioinspired vision sensor based on InP quantum dots (QDs)/ oxide thin film phototransistors, in cooperation with Prof. ZHANG Haizhong’s group at Fuzhou University. The study was published in Advanced Functional Materials.
Artificial visual system has a broad application prospect in the security, medical care, service and other fields.
However, massive and surging visual data pose great challenge to the traditional artificial visual system which is trapped by latency and energy consumption issues.
Adaptive phototransistors play a vital role in improving visual information processing efficiency. Thus researchers at NIMTE embed discrete InP QDs with strong visible-light absorbance within an InSnZnO thin film to construct a hybrid phototransistor, contributing to the efficient carrier transmission between the source and drain.
The excellent optoelectronic response capability of InP QDs and the superior electrical transportation feature of oxide semiconductors are combined perfectly in a single device.
Besides, the developed bioinspired vision sensor based on the InP QDs/ oxide thin film phototransistor exhibits excellent gate controllability and visible-light response capability, thus can mimick multiple functions of the human visual system and adapt to varying environmental light intensity.
Moreover, the device achieved an impressive accuracy exceeding 93% for hand-written pattern recognition, indicating its outstanding competency in image processing.
This study has provided an effective and facile route to fabricate high-performance phototransistors for bioinspired visual adaptation, and shed light on the further development of artificial vision systems.
The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 62274166, U20A20209), Ningbo Key Scientific and Technological Project (No.2021Z116), etc.
Fig. Bioinspired visual adaptation to different light intensities of environment (Image by NIMTE)
Contact
CAO Hongtao
Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering
E-mail: h_cao@nimte.ac.cn