• Corpus ID: 199000790

Black silicon UV photodiodes achieve>130% external quantum efficiency

@inproceedings{Garin2019BlackSU,
  title={Black silicon UV photodiodes achieve>130\% external quantum efficiency},
  author={M. Garin and Juha Heinonen and Lutz Werner and Toni P. Pasanen and Ville Vahanissi and Antti Haarahiltunen and Mikko A. Juntunen and Hele Savin},
  year={2019}
}

• M. Garin, J. Heinonen, +5 authors H. Savin
• Published 31 July 2019
• Engineering

At present ultraviolet sensors are utilized in numerous fields ranging from various spectroscopy applications via biotechnical innovations to industrial process control. Despite of this, the performance of current UV sensors is surprisingly poor. Here, we break the theoretical Shockley-Queisser limit and demonstrate a device with a certified external quantum efficiency (EQE) above 130% in UV range without external amplification. The record high performance is obtained using a nanostructured silicon photodiode with self-induced junction. We show that the high efficiency is based on effective utilization of multiple carrier generation by impact ionization taking place in the nanostructures. While the results can readily have a significant impact on the UV-sensor industry, the underlying technological concept can be applied to other semiconductor materials, thereby extending above unity response to longer wavelengths.