Abstract
In the last two decades there has been growing interest in silicon photonics and in the possibility to integrate new materials to overcome the silicon intrinsic limitations. Erbium has represented a viable solution for the realization of light sources at telecommunications wavelengths opening the path to the investigation of various photonic devices based on rare earth.In this work we investigate a photodetector operating at 1550 nm whose detection mechanism is based on the internal photoemission effect through an Er/Si Schottky junction. The Er/Si junction has been carefully electrically characterized showing a potential barrier and cut-off wavelength of 0.59 eV and 2105 nm, respectively. Moreover, a responsivity of 0.62 mA/W has been measured for a 3 μm-width waveguide at 1550 nm and at reverse voltage of -8 V. Finally, the noise equivalent power of the device has been evaluated as high as 0.53 nW/(Hz)1/2 at -8 V.Even if device responsivity is still low, we believe that our insights may suggest Er/Si as a new platform for the integration of various optical functionalities on the same chip opening new frontiers in the field of low-cost silicon micro and nanophotonics.
Highlights
Photonics is the science of manipulation, detection and generation light by using optical components that include lasers, fiber-optics and electro-optical devices in several application fields
We present an integrated PD whose detection mechanism is based on internal photoemission effect (IPE) through an Er/p-Si junction realized on the end facet of a SOI waveguide operating at 1550 nm
Internal photoemission effect theory IPE can be used in a Schottky junction for detecting a range of wavelengths corresponding to energies higher than the potential barrier at the metal/silicon interface
Summary
Photonics is the science of manipulation, detection and generation light by using optical components that include lasers, fiber-optics and electro-optical devices in several application fields. A further example consists in the manufacture of photodetectors (PDs) based on SiGe using a “zerochange” CMOS manufacturing process, with a percentage of Ge in the active part estimated between 25% and 35% [20], but in this case the operative wavelength is limited to maximum 1.2 μm [21]. With this technique it was possible to realize a microprocessor with about 850 integrated photonic devices operating at 1180 nm with over 70 million transistors on the same chip [1], but at the moment no Ge-based PD’s operating at 1550 nm have been realized. At the moment an all-Si approach could be preferable [24]
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