Enhancing Lateral Photovoltage Through Light-Trapping 3C-SiC/Si Microstructures

In this paper, we reported for the first time a micro-structured 3C-SiC/Si for enhancing the lateral photovoltaic effect (LPE). The 3C-SiC/Si device with a 5-µm-diameter micro-holes array structure demonstrated an approximately 50% increase in position sensitivity compared to the conventional design. A position sensitivity up to 453.2 mV/mm was achieved in the 5-µm micro-holes array device under the illumination of 637 nm (2000 µW) light. This sensitivity is the highest reported for 3C-SiC/Si heterostructure at a working distance of 1000 µm and is among the highest sensitivity reported. Our findings further push the limit of the 3C-SiC/Si heterostructure for optoelectronic sensing applications and provide an excellent method for maximizing the LPE.