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Silicon nanostructures for photonics and photovoltaics

Nature Nanotechnology volume 9, pages 19–32 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Silicon has long been established as the material of choice for the microelectronics industry. This is not yet true in photonics, where the limited degrees of freedom in material design combined with the indirect bandgap are a major constraint. Recent developments, especially those enabled by nanoscale engineering of the electronic and photonic properties, are starting to change the picture, and some silicon nanostructures now approach or even exceed the performance of equivalent direct-bandgap materials. Focusing on two application areas, namely communications and photovoltaics, we review recent progress in silicon nanocrystals, nanowires and photonic crystals as key examples of functional nanostructures. We assess the state of the art in each field and highlight the challenges that need to be overcome to make silicon a truly high-performing photonic material.

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Figure 1: Electrically driven devices based on nanocrystals and nanowires.
Figure 2: Nonlinear optics in silicon photonic crystals.
Figure 3: Enhanced light emission from silicon photonic crystals.
Figure 4: Photon cutting and pasting by Si nanocrystals.
Figure 5: Supercell binary grating for light trapping.

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Acknowledgements

We thank L. C. Andreani for his active collaboration and for a critical reading of this manuscript. F.P. acknowledges collaboration on silicon nanostructures, partly reviewed here, with S. Boninelli, G. Franzò, F. Iacona, A. Irrera and M. Miritello. T.G. acknowledges financial support by Technologiestichting STW and Stichting der Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM). M.G. acknowledges D. Gerace and L. C. Andreani for their collaboration on silicon photonic crystals. T.F.K. acknowledges support by the UK EPSRC through EP/F001622/1 “UK Silicon Photonics”. F.P., M.G. and T.F.K. acknowledge support by the EU through the NanoScience–ERA project EP/H00680X/1 “LECSIN”. F.P. acknowledges partial support by the EU and MIUR through the projects PON01_01725 named “Novel PV Technologies”, PON02_00355_3391233 named Energetic, and PON a3_00136 named BRIT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scuola Superiore di Catania, Università di Catania, via Valdisavoia 9, Catania, 95123, Italy

    Francesco Priolo

  2. Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Catania, via S. Sofia 64, Catania, 95123, Italy

    Francesco Priolo

  3. MATIS IMM-CNR, via S. Sofia 64, Catania, 95123, Italy

    Francesco Priolo

  4. Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, 1098 XH, The Netherlands

    Tom Gregorkiewicz

  5. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pavia, via Bassi 6, Pavia, 27100, Italy

    Matteo Galli

  6. Department of Physics, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK

    Thomas F. Krauss

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Priolo, F., Gregorkiewicz, T., Galli, M. et al. Silicon nanostructures for photonics and photovoltaics. Nature Nanotech 9, 19–32 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2013.271

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