We demonstrate flexible GaAs photodetector arrays that were hetero-epitaxially grown on a Si wafer for a new cost-effective and reliable wearable optoelectronics platform. A high crystalline quality GaAs layer was transferred onto a flexible foreign substrate and excellent retention of device performance was demonstrated by measuring the optical responsivities and dark currents. Optical simulation proves that the metal stacks used for wafer bonding serve as a back-reflector and enhance GaAs photodetector responsivity via a resonant-cavity effect. Device durability was also tested by bending 1000 times and no performance degradation was observed. This work paves a way for a cost-effective and flexible III-V optoelectronics technology with high durability.

We demonstrate, for the first time, GaAs thin film solar cells epitaxially grown on a Si substrate using a metal wafer bonding and epitaxial lift-off process. A relatively thin 2.1 μm GaAs buffer layer was first grown on Si as a virtual substrate, and a threading dislocation density of 1.8 × 10⁷ cm⁻² was achieved via two In_0.1Ga_0.9As strained insertion layers and 6× thermal cycle annealing. An inverted p-on-n GaAs solar cell structure grown on the GaAs/Si virtual substrate showed homogenous photoluminescence peak intensities throughout the 2″ wafer. We show a 10.6% efficient GaAs thin film solar cell without anti-reflection coatings and compare it to nominally identical upright structure solar cells grown on GaAs and Si. This work paves the way for large-scale and low-cost wafer-bonded III-V multi-junction solar cells.

We demonstrate a low threading dislocation density (TDD) and smooth surface InAs layer epitaxially grown on Si by suppressing phase separation of In_xAl_1−xAs (x = 0 to 1) graded buffer and by inserting a tensile-strained In_0.95Al_0.05As dislocation filter layer. While keeping the total III–V layer below 2.7 μm to avoid thermal cracks, we have achieved a sixfold reduction of TDD in InAs on Si compared to the unoptimized structure. We found a strong correlation between the metamorphic InAs surface roughness and TDD as a function of In_xAl_1−xAs buffer thickness. An optimal thickness of 175 nm was obtained where both phase separation and 3D islanding growth were suppressed. Moreover, a tensile-strained In_0.95Al_0.05As dislocation filter layer and high growth temperature of the InAs cap layer further assisted the dislocation reduction process, which led to a TDD to 1.37 × 10⁸ cm⁻². Finally, an InAs p-i-n photodetector grown on the optimized InAs/Si template confirmed its high quality by showing an improved responsivity from 0.16 to 0.32 A/W at a 2 μm wavelength.

Flexible mid-infrared photodetectors are essential to realize advanced imaging applications, including wearable healthcare monitoring, security, and biomedical applications. Here, we demonstrate high-performance flexible p-i-n InAs thin-film photodetectors with an optimal In_0.8Al_0.2As barrier layer. This In_0.8Al_0.2As barrier inserted between p-InAs and UID-InAs layer reduced leakage currents by a factor of 283 by blocking the flow of electrons. The fabricated flexible device exhibited relatively low dark current densities of 1.03×10⁻⁵ at 0 V and 0.85 A/cm² at −0.5 V, comparable to both commercially available and reported homoepitaxially-grown InAs detectors. Also, the high mechanical robustness and excellent reliability of our flexible InAs photodetector were confirmed by bending tests under various curvatures and bending cycles.