Charge Blinking Statistics of Semiconductor Nanocrystals Revealed by Carbon Nanotube Single Charge Sensors

We demonstrate the relation between the optical blinking of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) and their electrical charge blinking for which we provide the first experimental observation of power-law statistics. To show this, we harness the performance of CdSe/ZnS NCs coupled with carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs), which act as single charge-sensitive electrometers with submillisecond time resolution, at room temperature. A random telegraph signal (RTS) associated with the NC single-trap charging is observed and exhibits power-law temporal statistics (τ(-α), with α in the range of ∼1-3), and a Lorentzian current noise power spectrum with a well-defined 1/f(2) corner. The spectroscopic analysis of the NC-CNTFET devices is consistent with the charging of NC defect states with a charging energy of Ec ≥ 200 meV. These results pave the way for a deeper understanding of the physics and technology of nanocrystal-based optoelectronic devices.