A polymer-based field effect transistor photosensitive to incident light, which
may enhance the transistor's characteristics and controlling parameters of the
transistor state. The transistor is comprised of a metal-insulator-semiconductor
structure with the insulating and semiconducting layers made of a polymeric media.
The semiconducting polymer which also is photoconducting, forms the charge transport
layer between the source and drain. The transistor exhibits large photosensitivity
indicated by the sizable changes in the drain-source current, by a factor of 100-1000
even at low levels of light with illumination of approximately 1 mlux. The photosensitivity
of the transistor is further enhanced with introduction of dilute quantity electron
acceptor moieties in the semiconducting polymer matrix. Several applications of
the light-responsive polymer-transistor are disclosed, such as use as a logic element
and as a backbone of an image sensor.