Detection of UV light has traditionally been a major
challenge
for Si photodiodes due to reflectance losses and junction recombination.
Here we overcome these problems by combining a nanostructured surface
with an optimized implanted junction and compare the obtained performance
to state-of-the-art commercial counterparts. We achieve a significant
improvement in responsivity, reaching near ideal values at wavelengths
all the way from 200 to 1000 nm. Dark current, detectivity, and rise
time are in turn shown to be on a similar level. The presented detector
design allows a highly sensitive operation over a wide wavelength
range without making major compromises regarding the simplicity of
the fabrication or other figures of merit relevant to photodiodes.