Polarization‐Independent Indium Phosphide Nanowire Photodetectors

Abstract

Although semiconductor nanowire (NW) photodetectors are promising building blocks for nanoscale on‐chip optoelectronic integration applications, poor absorption, and strong light polarization dependence due to their inherent anisotropic geometry remain an issue. Here, a polarization‐insensitive photodetector is designed and experimentally demonstrated, which consists of an InP NW embedded in a dual‐split bull's eye (DSBE) plasmonic antenna. The resultant photodetector exhibits a low noise equivalent power of 0.97 pW and a photoresponsivity of 0.96 A W‐1 at 740 nm with an external quantum efficiency of 163%. Importantly, the device exhibits an ultralow polarization dependence characteristic with a polarization degree significantly reduced from 91% down to 6%. The improved performance stems from the intrinsic symmetry of the orthogonal DSBE and the strong surface plasmon coupling, which significantly boosts the optical concentration abilities at all polarization angles as compared to the bare NW photodetector. This NW photodetector‐antenna design provides a pathway for the development of high‐performance nanoscale photodetectors for applications in advanced sensing, imaging, and quantum communications.

2D Carrier Localization at the Wurtzite-Zincblende Interface in Novel Layered InP Nanomembranes

“…The polarization anisotropy can be calculated by , where ZB InP has a large dielectric constant ε = 12.5, resulting in a high polarization anisotropy parallel to the nanowire axis. Some efforts have been made to fabricate polarization-independent ZB InP nanowire devices to reduce the influence of anisotropy in sensing and imaging …”

“…Some efforts have been made to fabricate polarization-independent ZB InP nanowire devices to reduce the influence of anisotropy in sensing and imaging. 41 However, WZ InP crystal has a different symmetry, where the lowest energy exciton transition (Γ 7 → Γ 9 ) in WZ InP is dipole allowed only for E perpendicular to the c axis of the nanowire. 40 Thus, the exciton emission in WZ InP wire should be strongly polarized perpendicular to the nanowire axis.…”

Infrared Photodetectors Based on 2D Materials and Nanophotonics

“…For example, at a hemispherical field of view (FOV) angle of 90° at a background temperature of 300 K, the specific detectivity curve of the BLIP with unity quantum efficiency experiences a dramatic drop from ≈10 13 Jones at 2 µm to ≈4 × 10 10 Jones at 12 µm. [108]…”

“…Most of the commercial IR photodetectors have a high IQE across a wide spectral range, for example, the IQE is larger than 90% in the 1–14 µm range in Hg x Cd 1− x Te IR photodetectors. [ 108 ]…”

Interatomic Potential for InP

“…Indium phosphide attracts significant interest among all semiconductors due to its wide applications in electronics and photonics, for example, in applications in high-speed integrated circuits [ 1 ], photonic devices [ 2 , 3 ], photovoltaic [ 4 ], and high-efficiency solar cells [ 5 ]. The high absorption coefficient allows the InP to be an essential constituent also of many smart devices as quantum-dot light emitters [ 6 , 7 ], nanowires lasers [ 8 ], and nanowire photodetectors [ 9 ].…”