GaN-based nanostructured photodetectors

The use of nanostructures in semiconductor technology leads to the observation of new phenomena in device physics. Further quantum and non-quantum effects arise from the reduction of device dimension to a nanometric scale. In nanopillars, quantum confinement regime is only revealed when the lateral dimensions are lower than 50 nm. For larger mesoscopic systems, quantum effects are not observable but surface states play a key role and make the properties of nanostructured devices depart from those found in conventional devices. In this work, we present the fabrication of GaN nanostructured metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) and p-i-n photodiodes (PIN PDs) by e-beam lithography, as well as the investigation of their photoelectrical properties at room temperature. The nanopillar height and diameter are about 520 nm and 200 nm, respectively. MSMs present dark currents densities of 0.4 A/cm2 at ±100 V. A strong increase of the optical response with bias is observed, resulting in responsivities higher than 1 A/W. The relationship between this gain mechanism and surface states is discussed. PIN PDs yield peak responsivities (Rpeak) of 35 mA/W at -4 V and show an abnormal increase of the response (Rpeak>100 A/W) under forward biases.