One order of magnitude increase in quantum efficiency of PtSi/Si IR detectors

Porous silicon has been used to fabricate Schottky diode IR detectors. Porous p-type silicon with pore sizes of the order of a few microns were covered by Pt using sputtering and after annealing, an increase of about 2 orders of magnitude in quantum efficiency was observed compared to regular Schottky detectors. The exhibited efficiency is about an order of magnitude larger than that reported in the literature. It is assumed that the random nature of the orientation of the pore surfaces have caused the increase.