Electrical and photoelectric properties of nanostructures obtained by electroless etching of silicon

The electrical and photoelectric properties of nanostructures with porous silicon layers obtained by electroless etching of silicon have been investigated. It is found that the photoelectric and photovoltaic properties of these structures depend on their morphology and are determined by not only the properties of the modified layer, but also the presence of possible barriers in the layered porous silicon. The ratio of the photoconductivity to the dark conductivity reached 102−5 × 102. An open-circuit voltage Voc was detected that amounted to ∼250 mV at an incident light power close to AM-1 (∼100 mW/cm2). In this case, the density of short-circuit current Isc was about 20 μA/cm2.