Germanium wrap-around photodetectors on Silicon photonics

Opt Express. 2015 May 4;23(9):11975-84. doi: 10.1364/OE.23.011975.

Abstract

We present a novel waveguide coupling scheme where a germanium diode grown via rapid melt growth is wrapped around a silicon waveguide. A 4 fF PIN photodiode is demonstrated with 0.95 A/W responsivity at 1550 nm, 6 nA dark current, and nearly 9 GHz bandwidth. Devices with shorter intrinsic region exhibit higher bandwidth (30 GHz) and slightly lower responsivity (0.7 A/W). An NPN phototransistor is also demonstrated using the same design with 14 GHz f(T).