2024-10-31 カリフォルニア大学校アーバイン校(UCI)
＜関連情報＞
- https://news.uci.edu/2024/10/31/a-trick-of-light-uc-irvine-researchers-turn-silicon-into-direct-bandgap-semiconductor/
- https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.4c02656
シリコンの光吸収を可能にする光子運動量 Photon Momentum Enabled Light Absorption in Silicon
Sergey S. Kharintsev,Aleksey I. Noskov,Elina I. Battalova,Liat Katrivas,Alexander B. Kotlyar,Jovany G. Merham,Eric O. Potma,Vartkess A. Apkarian,Dmitry A. Fishman
ACS Nano Published August 22, 2024
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.4c02656
Abstract
Photons do not carry sufficient momentum to induce indirect optical transitions in semiconducting materials, such as silicon, necessitating the assistance of lattice phonons to conserve momentum. Compared to direct bandgap semiconductors, this renders silicon a less attractive material for a wide variety of optoelectronic applications. In this work, we introduce an alternative strategy to fulfill the momentum-matching requirement in indirect optical transitions. We demonstrate that when confined to scales below ∼3 nm, photons acquire sufficient momentum to allow electronic transitions at the band edge of Si without the assistance of a phonon. Confined photons allow simultaneous energy and momentum conservation in two-body photon-electron scattering; in effect, converting silicon into a direct bandgap semiconductor. We show that this less-explored concept of light-matter interaction leads to a marked increase in the absorptivity of Si from the UV to the near-IR. The strategy provides opportunities for more efficient use of indirect semiconductors in photovoltaics, energy conversion, light detection, and emission.
