Fleming, F. orcid.org/0000-0001-9342-6446, Yi, X. orcid.org/0000-0003-0177-2398, Mirza, M.M.A. et al. (13 more authors) (2024) Surface-normal illuminated pseudo-planar Ge-on-Si avalanche photodiodes with high gain and low noise. Optics Express, 32 (11). 19449. ISSN 1094-4087
Abstract
Germanium-on-Silicon (Ge-on-Si) avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are of considerable interest as low intensity light detectors for emerging applications. The Ge absorption layer detects light at wavelengths up to ≈ 1600 nm with the Si acting as an avalanche medium, providing high gain with low excess avalanche noise. Such APDs are typically used in waveguide configurations as growing a sufficiently thick Ge absorbing layer is challenging. Here, we report on a new vertically illuminated pseudo-planar Ge-on-Si APD design utilizing a 2 µm thick Ge absorber and a 1.4 µm thick Si multiplication region. At a wavelength of 1550 nm, 50 µm diameter devices show a responsivity of 0.41 A/W at unity gain, a maximum avalanche gain of 101 and an excess noise factor of 3.1 at a gain of 20. This excess noise factor represents a record low noise for all configurations of Ge-on-Si APDs. These APDs can be inexpensively manufactured and have potential integration in silicon photonic platforms allowing use in a variety of applications requiring high-sensitivity detectors at wavelengths around 1550 nm.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 Published by Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. |
Keywords: | Physical Sciences; Engineering; Nanotechnology |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EP/T001011/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 17 Jun 2024 15:17 |
Last Modified: | 17 Jun 2024 15:17 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Optica Publishing Group |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1364/oe.521417 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:213377 |