Microstructured silicon photodetector

Photodetectors fabricated on microstructured silicon are reported. The photodetectors exhibited high photoresponse; at 3 V bias, the responsivities were 92 A ∕ W at 850 nm and 119 A ∕ W at 960 nm . At wavelengths longer than 1.1 μ m , the photodetectors still showed strong photoresponse. A generation-recombination gain mechanism has been proposed to explain the photoresponse of these photodiodes. From measurements of the noise current density, the calculated gain was approximately 1200 at 3 V bias.