Investigation on optical absorption properties of electrochemically formed porous InP using photoelectric conversion devices

We investigated the optical absorption properties of InP porous structures formed by the electrochemical process using photoelectric conversion (PC) devices formed on p-n junction substrates. The photocurrent measurements revealed that the current from PC devices changed in response to the incident light power and the thickness of the top layer on the p-n interface. Since the photocarriers contributing to the observed photocurrents are excited by the photons reaching the p-n interface through the top layer, the photocurrents give us information on the optical absorption properties of the top layer. The photocurrents observed on a porous device with a porous structure in the top layer were lower than that of a non-porous device, indicating that the absorption properties of InP were enhanced after the formation of porous structures. This phenomenon can be explained in terms of absorption coefficient, α, increased by the light scattering and the sub-bandgap absorption in the porous layer.