Photodiode with low dark current built in silicon-on-insulator using electrostatic doping

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate experimentally a novel SOI-based photodiode using electrostatic doping and fabricated in a simple, low-cost process. Unlike a conventional ion-implanted pn junction diode, the electrostatically doped devices feature extremely low reverse-bias current. When used for photodetection, our devices exhibit a dark current three decades lower than a conventional photodiode and provide excellent detectivity even under low optical power density. Our electrostatically-doped diodes also feature enhanced response in the near-UV and 1/f low-frequency noise.