High performance planar germanium-on-silicon single-photon avalanche diode detectors

Vines, Peter; Kuzmenko, Kateryna; Kirdoda, Jarosław; Dumas, Derek C. S.; Mirza, Muhammad; Millar, Ross W.; Paul, Douglas J.; Buller, Gerald S.

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-08830-w

Cited by 139 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Detectors based on superconducting nanowires, such as the one shown in Figure 7c-e, similarly operate at cryogenic temperatures only. Recent waveguidecoupled Ge-on-Si avalanche photodiodes showed that single photon detection in room temperature conditions was possible [107]; a similar Ge-on-Si photodiode with a different design showed a detection efficiency of 38% at 125 K [108].…”

Section: Single Photon Detectorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On-chip nanophotonics and future challenges

et al. 2020

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On-chip nanophotonic devices are a class of devices capable of controlling light on a chip to realize performance advantages over ordinary building blocks of integrated photonics. These ultra-fast and low-power nanoscale optoelectronic devices are aimed at high-performance computing, chemical, and biological sensing technologies, energy-efficient lighting, environmental monitoring and more. They are increasingly becoming an attractive building block in a variety of systems, which is attributed to their unique features of large evanescent field, compactness, and most importantly their ability to be configured according to the required application. This review summarizes recent advances of integrated nanophotonic devices and their demonstrated applications, including but not limited to, mid-infrared and overtone spectroscopy, all-optical processing on a chip, logic gates on a chip, and cryptography on a chip. The reviewed devices open up a new chapter in on-chip nanophotonics and enable the application of optical waveguides in a variety of optical systems, thus are aimed at accelerating the transition of nanophotonics from academia to the industry.

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Section: Single Photon Detectorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On-chip nanophotonics and future challenges

et al. 2020

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“…Although they realize near-ideal detection, a cryogenic temperature is required [ 30 , 31 ], making them unsuitable for full integration on chip. Recently, single photon avalanche detectors (SPADs) near room temperature have been demonstrated at 1330 nm and 1550 nm, using a vertically coupled Ge APD and a waveguide butt-coupled GeSn APD, respectively [ 43 , 44 ]. In the current state-of-the-art, their performances are limited by the dislocation density at the Si interface.…”

Section: Chip-integrated Parity-based Detection Techniquementioning

confidence: 99%

Design of an on-Chip Room Temperature Group-IV Quantum Photonic Chem/Bio Interferometric Sensor Based on Parity Detection

2020

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We propose and analyze three Si-based room-temperature strip-guided “manufacturable” integrated quantum photonic chem/bio sensor chips operating at wavelengths of 1550 nm, 1330 nm, and 640 nm, respectively. We propose design rules that will achieve super-sensitivity (above the classical limit) by means of mixing between states of coherent light and single-mode squeezed-light. The silicon-on-insulator (SOI), silicon-on-sapphire (SOS), and silicon nitride-on-SiO2-on Si (SiN) platforms have been investigated. Each chip is comprised of photonic building blocks: a race-track resonator, a pump filter, an integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometric chem/bio sensor, and a photonic circuit to perform parity measurements, where our homodyne measurement circuit avoids the use of single-photon-counting detectors and utilizes instead conventional photodetectors. A combination of super-sensitivity with super-resolution is predicted for all three platforms to be used for chem/bio sensing applications.

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“…Typically, InGaAs/InP based SPADs exhibit single-photon detection efficiencies (SPDEs) ranging from 20 % to > 50 % in the SWIR and operate at Peltier-cooled temperatures between 220 K and 255 K [18][19][20][21][22][23] , this is advantageous because Peltier-cooling has less stringent requirements for size, weight and power consumption in comparison to cryogenic cooling, facilitating the development of compact detector modules. Another challenge associated with InGaAs based SPADs is that the achievable count rates are markedly restricted by prominent afterpulsing effects [24][25][26] , however, progress continues to be made in mitigating this issue 21,27 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High efficiency planar geometry germanium-on-silicon single-photon avalanche diode detectors

Thorburn

Huddleston²,

Kirdoda

et al. 2020

Advanced Photon Counting Techniques XIV

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This paper presents the performance of 26 μm and 50 µm diameter planar Ge-on-Si single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detectors. The addition of germanium in these detectors extends the spectral range into the shortwave infrared (SWIR) region, beyond the capability of already well-established Si SPAD devices. There are several advantages for extending the spectral range into the SWIR region including: reduced eye-safety laser threshold, greater attainable ranges, and increased depth resolution in range finding applications, in addition to the enhanced capability to image through obscurants such as fog and smoke. The time correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) technique has been utilized to observe record low dark count rates, below 100 kHz at a temperature of 125 K for up to a 6.6 % excess bias, for the 26 µm diameter devices. Under identical experimental conditions, in terms of excess bias and temperature, the 50 µm diameter device consistently demonstrates dark count rates a factor of 4 times greater than 26 µm diameter devices, indicating that the dark count rate is proportional to the device volume. Single-photon detection efficiencies of up to ~ 29 % were measured at a wavelength of 1310 nm at 125 K. Noise equivalent powers (NEP) down to 9.8 × 10-17 WHz-1/2 and jitters < 160 ps are obtainable, both significantly lower than previous 100 μm diameter planar geometry devices, demonstrating the potential of these devices for highly sensitive and high-speed imaging in the SWIR.

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High performance planar germanium-on-silicon single-photon avalanche diode detectors

Cited by 139 publications

References 52 publications

On-chip nanophotonics and future challenges

On-chip nanophotonics and future challenges

Design of an on-Chip Room Temperature Group-IV Quantum Photonic Chem/Bio Interferometric Sensor Based on Parity Detection

High efficiency planar geometry germanium-on-silicon single-photon avalanche diode detectors

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