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The photosensitivity of silicon is inherently very low in the visibleelectromagnetic spectrum, and it drops rapidly beyond 800 nm in near-infraredwavelengths. Herein, we have experimentally demonstrated a technique utilizingphoton-trapping surface structures to show a prodigious improvement ofphotoabsorption in one-micrometer-thin silicon, surpassing the inherentabsorption efficiency of gallium arsenide for a broad spectrum. Thephoton-trapping structures allow the bending of normally incident light byalmost ninety degrees to transform into laterally propagating modes along thesilicon plane. Consequently, the propagation length of light increases,contributing to more than an order of magnitude improvement in absorptionefficiency in photodetectors. This high absorption phenomenon is explained byFDTD analysis, where we show an enhanced photon density of states whilesubstantially reducing the optical group velocity of light compared to siliconwithout photon-trapping structures, leading to significantly enhancedlight-matter interactions. Our simulations also predict an enhanced absorptionefficiency of photodetectors designed using 30 and 100-nanometer silicon thinfilms that are compatible with CMOS electronics. Despite a very thin absorptionlayer, such photon-trapping structures can enable high-efficiency andhigh-speed photodetectors needed in ultra-fast computer networks, datacommunication, and imaging systems with the potential to revolutionize on-chiplogic and optoelectronic integration.

Achieving higher photoabsorption than group III-V semiconductors in silicon using photon-trapping surface structures