We report a Si-CMOS-compatible photodiode for room temperature short-wavelength infrared detection. The architecture integrates Te-hyperdoped silicon with light-trapping structures to achieve a breakthrough in sub-band-gap efficiency. Specifically, by combining surface texturing and a back reflector, we boost absorptance to $\approx 85\%$, enabling the observation of transport dynamics at room temperature that were previously obscured in planar devices. We report a peak external quantum efficiency of 2.3% at $1.27\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{m}$, exceeding commercial Si-PIN performance by 3 orders of magnitude. The physical origin of this enhancement is attributed to bias-assisted tunneling between the Te impurity band and the Si valence band, evidenced by a distinct spectral shoulder at 0.4–0.6 eV. Our results, supported by a specific detectivity of $4\times {10}^{10}{\mathrm{cmHz}}^{1/2}{\mathrm{W}}^{-1}$ and $32\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{s}$ response times, establish hyperdoped silicon as a viable platform for high-performance, room temperature SWIR photonics.

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• Carrier generation & recombination
• Impurities
• Light detection
• Optoelectronics
• Photonics
• Semiconductors
• Infrared techniques