Development of Porous Silicon Based Visible Light Photodetectors

Abstract

Porous silicon based visible light photodetectors with the characteristic structures of Al/porous silicon/Si were developed by evaporating aluminum contact onto the top surface of porous silicon films to form metal-semiconductor-metal Schottky junctions. The spongy nanostructures of the porous silicon film were characterized with the scanning electron microscopy. The current-voltage characteristics, the biased voltage dependent photocurrents and the illumination intensity dependent photocurrents were measured for the Al/porous silicon/Si visible light photodetectors. It is found that the photocurrents as large as 4 mA/cm2 can be achieved for the porous silicon based visible light photodetectors under the normal illumination of one 500 W tungsten lamp