Another Organic Sensor

ElectronicsWeekly.com: The University of Oxford is developing organic photosensor technology. “We are hoping to have more efficient systems in terms of colour reproduction and sensitivity,” told project head Dr Paul Burn.
“We are working with dendrimers rather than polymers or small molecules,” Burn said. “We can tailor the materials to detect red, green or blue.”
“Greater sensitivity is the intention,” he said. “I can’t foresee any problems with achieving this at the moment.” The sensor would be similar to a CMOS photosensor, with deposited dendrimers taking the place of silicon sensors in each pixel. Charge separation within dendrimer photodetectors could be promoted by two separate organic layers or a bulk heterojunction.
Dendrimers are molecules with a core at the centre of tree-like branches. Mechanical, optical and electrical properties can be tuned by changing the branches or the core.

Spin-out firm Opsys was created to use the dendrimer materials Burn developed at Oxford.