High gain single GaAs nanowire photodetector

An undoped single GaAs nanowire (NW) photodetector based on a metal–semiconductor–metal Schottky diode structure is fabricated by a focused ion beam method. The photoconductive gain of the device reaches 20 000 at low laser excitation. Bias-dependence of gain proves that the surface contributes more to the gain at higher bias because of an increased surface charge region. The spectral response demonstrates not only the band-edge absorption profile of the single GaAs NW, but also the existence of leaky-mode resonance.