Title :
Photocurrent enhancement in ultrathin silicon by the photonic band-edge effect
Author :
Fujita, Masayuki ; Shigeta, Hiroaki ; Tanaka, Yoshinori ; Oskooi, Ardavan ; Ogawa, Hiroyuki ; Tsuda, Yusuke ; Noda, Susumu
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electron. Sci. & Eng., Kyoto Univ., Kyoto, Japan
Abstract :
A 2D PC introduced into the ultrathin active layers of photodetecting devices can markedly improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency. We have observed 20 times enhancement at a specific wavelength in the photocurrent of a PC sample relative to an unpatterned one as a result of better Q-matching between the photonic band-edge modes and the material absorption. Our study may potentially be extended to obtain a wide-spectral response by careful engineering of the PC lattice to include several band-edge modes thus enabling ultrahigh-efficiency photovoltaic devices including ultrathin solar cells.
Keywords :
elemental semiconductors; optical lattices; photodetectors; silicon; solar cells; PC lattice; Q-matching; Si; material absorption; photocurrent enhancement; photodetecting devices; photoelectric conversion; photonic band-edge effect; photonic band-edge modes; ultrahigh-efficiency photovoltaic devices; ultrathin active layers; ultrathin solar cells; Dielectrics; Photonic crystals; Photonics; Q factor;
Conference_Titel :
Photonics Conference (IPC), 2012 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Burlingame, CA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4577-0731-5
DOI :
10.1109/IPCon.2012.6358520
