Toward color-selective printed organic photodetectors for high-resolution image sensors: From fundamentals to potential commercialization

The technology to record image information at high resolution is of great importance in the optical areas of applied physics and biochemical imaging, as well as in commercial imaging applications such as cameras and machine vision. Organic semiconductors are drawing interest as photodetecting materials for next-generation high-resolution image sensors (IS) owing to their excellent properties such as high absorption coefficient, and color tunability and cost-effective manufacturability. These advantages offer the potential to exceed the technical limitation of silicon-based IS. This article reviews the state-of-the-art technologies of materials and devices in solution-processed organic photodiodes (OPDs) to meet the demands for future high-resolution ISs, which involves challenges ranging from the absence of a fundamental understanding of OPDs to commercialization requirements. Further, this article overviews the progress in the industry as well as academic society. The various requirements and technologies for the development of color-filter-free OPDs with narrow-wavelength detection are also discussed. This review concludes with an outlook of advances in these materials and devices to open up new commercialization routes.