Femtosecond laser irradiation-induced infrared absorption on silicon surfaces

The near-infrared (NIR) absorption below band gap energy of crystalline silicon is significantly increased after the silicon is irradiated with femtosecond laser pulses at a simple experimental condition. The absorption increase in the NIR range primarily depends on the femtosecond laser pulse energy, pulse number, and pulse duration. The Raman spectroscopy analysis shows that after the laser irradiation, the silicon surface consists of silicon nanostructure and amorphous silicon. The femtosecond laser irradiation leads to the formation of a composite of nanocrystalline, amorphous, and the crystal silicon substrate surface with microstructures. The composite has an optical absorption enhancement at visible wavelengths as well as at NIR wavelength. The composite may be useful for an NIR detector, for example, for gas sensing because of its large surface area.