Abstract
Fast, low-noise and sensitive avalanche photo-receivers are needed for surging short-reach photonic applications. Limitations concerning bandwidth, throughput and energy consumption should be overcome. In this work, we comprehensively study the performance opportunities provided by avalanche p-i-n photodetectors with lateral silicon-germanium-silicon heterojunctions. Our aim is to circumvent the need for chip-bonded electronic amplifiers. In particular, we demonstrate that avalanche photodetectors based on silicon-germanium-silicon heterostructures yield reliable opto-electrical performances, with high gain-bandwidth products up to 480 GHz and low effective ionization ratios down to 0.15. Moreover, they improve power sensitivities for high-speed optical signals and have a low energy dissipation of only a few fJ per received information bit. These results pave the way for high-performing receivers for energy-aware data links, in next-generation short-distance data communications.
Highlights
THE relentless demands of data-hungry devices as in data centers [1], high-performance computers and servers [2] or big data clouds and storages [3] places exponential requirements on electrical wire signaling
After evidencing high gain-bandwidth products (GBPs) that would be due to low kvalues, we had a look at the sensitivity of those Si-Ge-Si avalanche photodetectors (APDs)
The optimum operating points otherwise increase with the size of the intrinsic region, from 7 V up to 8V, 11 V and 12.5 V. Those operation optima are close to the boundaries between APD regimes (II.) and (III.) in Fig. 5 graphs showing the experimental bandwidths as functions of the reverse voltage
Summary
THE relentless demands of data-hungry devices as in data centers [1], high-performance computers and servers [2] or big data clouds and storages [3] places exponential requirements on electrical wire signaling. Transceivers combine transmitters and receivers in a single circuit Their high-bit-rate and energy-aware operation is attractive for use in various types of devices. Adding CMOS electronics amplifies p-i-n's output, with, an increased parasitic load at the receiver front-end [12] This is critical for receivers as a higher parasitic capacitance at the input of an amplification stage may deteriorate the overall device bandwidth (limiting the detection speed). Socalled "receiver-less" APDs, i.e. APDs without chip-bonded nor integrated circuit electronics, would be interesting in chipscale interconnects, where high-speed, low-noise, and energy efficient operation is sought after. We will demonstrate that Si-Ge-Si APDs yield fast, reliable and low-noise on-chip signal detection, improved sensitivity and a rather low fJ/bit energy consumption, without the need for additional electronic amplification components
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