Electrical characteristics and photocurrent spectral response of Si nanowires p-i-n junctions.

P-i-n junctions were fabricated along Si nanowires (SiNWs) via the conventional top-down approach using optical lithography. Each device comprises 500 identical SiNWs connected in parallel, and each SiNW has triangular cross-section with dimensions of ~6 nm (base) by ~8 nm (height). The photodiodes exhibit very good rectifying electrical characteristics with a low reverse bias current of ~0.2 fA per SiNW. The photocurrent spectral response exhibits three peaks between 400 nm to 700 nm, which arise due to local optical field enhancement associated with diffraction by the periodic SiNW array and interference in an air/SiO2/Si cavity.