Structural Relaxation Enables Millisecond Infrared Photodetection in Selenium Iodine Semiconductors

Abstract

The optoelectronic performance of amorphous and partially crystalline semiconductors is strongly governed by structural disorder, yet establishing direct correlations between structural evolution and carrier transport remains challenging. Here, we show that the solid state optoelectronic response of selenium iodine (SeI2) is dictated by its transformation from a metastable glassy phase into an ordered lamellar structure. Vertically resolved transport measurements reveal pronounced depth-dependent electrical conductivity within thick SeI2 films, arising from compositional and structural inhomogeneity developed during solidification. Immediately after solidification, the glassy SeI2 network exhibits sluggish carrier transport and persistent photoconductivity. Upon prolonged structural relaxation, however, the material undergoes significant transport enhancement, enabling millisecond-scale infrared photodetection with a response time of 4.3 ms, stable operation up to 8 kHz modulation frequency, and shot-noise-limited detectivities of 108 Jones at 1550 nm and 1011 Jones in the visible. Spatial photocurrent mapping demonstrates highly uniform carrier collection despite the self-assembled lamellar morphology, while infrared thermal imaging confirms practical imaging capability over a broad temperature range. These results establish structural relaxation as a powerful strategy for engineering carrier transport in selenium-based semiconductors and position SeI2 as a promising solution-processable platform for infrared photodetection and thermal imaging.