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Yatsui T. Recent improvement of silicon absorption in opto-electric devices. Opto-Electron Adv 2, 190023 (2019). doi: 10.29026/oea.2019.190023
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Review Open Access
Recent improvement of silicon absorption in opto-electric devices
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Abstract
Silicon dominates the contemporary electronic industry. However, being an indirect band-gap material, it is a poor absorber of light, which decreases the efficiency of Si-based photodetectors and photovoltaic devices. This review highlights recent studies performed towards improving the optical absorption of Si. A summary of recent theoretical approaches based on the first principle calculation has been provided. It is followed by an overview of recent experimental approaches including scattering, plasmon, hot electron, and near-field effects. The article concludes with a perspective on the future research direction of Si-based photodetectors and photovoltaic devices.-
Keywords:
- Si /
- indirect band gap /
- plasmon /
- first principle calculation /
- near-field effect
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References
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Yatsui T. Recent improvement of silicon absorption in opto-electric devices. Opto-Electron Adv 2, 190023 (2019). doi: 10.29026/oea.2019.190023
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Figure 1.
Comparison of far- and near-field excitations.
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Figure 2.
ONF excitation in indirect band-gap structure.
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Figure 3.
ONF excitation in a realistic Si system.
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Figure 4.
Schematic of the hot electron driven photocurrent over a Schottky barrier.
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Figure 5.
Sensitivity of the lateral p–n junction with Au nanoparticles.
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Figure 6.
Increased rate as a function of the size of Au nanoparticles.
