InGaAs PIN photodetectors integrated on silicon-on-insulator waveguides

Abstract

InGaAs PIN photodetectors heterogeneously integrated on silicon-on-insulator waveguides are fabricated and characterized. Efficient evanescent coupling between silicon-on-insulator waveguides and InGaAs photodetectors is achieved. The fabricated photodetectors can work well without external bias and have a very low dark current of 10pA. The measured responsivity of a 40µm-long photodetector is 1.1A/W (excluding the coupling loss between the fiber and the SOI waveguide) at a wavelength of 1550nm and shows good linearity for an input power range of 40dB. Due to the large absorption coefficient of InGaAs and the efficient evanescent coupling, the fabricated photodetectors can cover the whole S, C and L communication bands. ©2010 Optical Society of America References and links1. R. Soref, and J. Lorenzo, "All-silicon active and passive guided-wave components for λ = 1.3 and 1.6 µm," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 22(6), 873-879 (1986). 2. R. Soref, and B. Bennett, "Electrooptical effects in silicon," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 23(1), 123-129 (1987).

Optical detection and modulation at 2µm-25µm in silicon

“…In the near-infrared (NIR) the most popular technique to form high speed photodetectors in silicon has been to introduce germanium to the wafer surface [13]; however, this method is not suitable for the 2-3μm wavelength range as germanium is largely transparent. Alternative methods that can be extended beyond 2μm include III-V on silicon detectors [14], graphene on silicon [15], and defect based detectors [16], where the latter approaches have the advantage of CMOS compatibility. In terms of modulation, high speed optical modulators in the NIR have typically made use of the plasma dispersion effect [17], although approaches based upon the hybridisation of other materials such as III-V [18], germanium [19], graphene [20] and polymers [21] have also been successfully demonstrated.…”

Merging Plasmonics and Silicon Photonics Towards Greener and Faster “Network-on-Chip” Solutions for Data Centers and High-Performance Computing Systems

“…One detection scheme within the C-band on a SOI platform is the hybridization of integrated Si structures with other materials (e.g. Ge [39], InGaAs [40]) for direct (linear) absorption. This hybrid approach can lead to highperformance but complex devices, requiring complicated and cost-intensive fabrication procedures and modifications compared to the standard CMOS process.…”

Realization of fiber-based laser Doppler vibrometer with serrodyne frequency shifting

“…With SOI as a platform, the passive parts of the interferometer (e.g., waveguides, splitters, and fiber couplers) can be directly fabricated in the top silicon layer by means of CMOS technology. Laser sources and photo detectors can, for example, be based on InGaAsP epitaxial layers bonded on top of the chip with benzocyclobutene (BCB) as the intermediate layer [7,8]. The frequency shifter, as is proposed, can be a carrier-injection/depletion-based phase modulator [22].…”

“…Miniaturized LDVs could also have other advantages over bulk and fiber-based LDVs, such as low power consumption and low fabrication cost. Our proposal for a miniaturized LDV is based on silicon photonics, a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible technology platform allowing the integration of different microphotonic devices (e.g., waveguides, couplers, lasers, and modulators) and making low-cost mass production possible [6][7][8][9][10]. With this technology, an LDV can be fabricated on an ultracompact silicon-on-insulator (SOI) chip with an area smaller than 1 mm 2 .…”