Whispering gallery modes enhance the near-infrared photoresponse of hourglass-shaped silicon nanowire photodiodes

Silicon photodiodes are widely used in applications that require the measurement of the intensity, colour and position of visible light. Silicon is an attractive material for these systems owing to its low cost, low noise, and easy on-chip integration with read-out electronics. However, silicon cannot effectively be used to detect near-infrared (NIR, at wavelengths of 700–1,000 nm) light and short-wave infrared (SWIR, 1,000–1,700 nm) light because of its bandgap of 1.12 eV, which is equivalent to a wavelength of 1,100 nm. Here, we report silicon photodiodes based on hourglass-shaped silicon nanowires that use whispering-gallery-mode resonances to enhance their photoresponse in the NIR–SWIR region of the spectrum. The upper, inverted nanocone of the nanowires increases absorption probability by extending the dwell time of NIR–SWIR photons via the generation of whispering-gallery-mode resonances, whereas the lower nanocone with its low reflectance reabsorbs the light incident from surrounding nanowires. Our devices exhibit a higher responsivity and external quantum efficiency than existing silicon photodiodes at 700–1,100 nm. Furthermore, the responsivity at 1,000 nm is similar to that of commercial InGaAs photodiodes and light at 1,400 nm can also be detected. Using our devices, we demonstrate a heart-rate measurement system that offers performance comparable to commercial setups.