Understanding the Light Detection in an Integrated Novel Electrophotonic Wavesensor Photodetector

Joaquín Hernández-Betanzos,Alfredo Abelardo González-Fernández,Mariano Aceves-Mijares

doi:10.3390/app12031264

Joaquín Hernández-Betanzos, Alfredo Abelardo González-Fernández + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031264

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Abstract

This work presents a novel integrable silicon photodetector which can only be conceived as part of a monolithic electrophotonic basic structure formed of a silicon light emitter, waveguide and light detector. That is, it cannot operate as a single electronic or photonic device. The detector presents current gain, and photons reach the depletion region straightforward, allowing the detection of low power light produced by silicon light sources currently in use, which is difficult for existing photodetectors. The waveguide core is made of silicon nitride, and it is simultaneously the insulator in a MOS-like device. The light detection unit is intended for novel seamless electrophotonic platforms, and it is called wavesensor. In spite that the device is a MOS-like structure, it is not a MOSFET neither a lateral bipolar transistor, and one of the main differences with the former is that this is a bulk device working in Punch-Through regime. Being a MOS-like structure, it is fully compatible with standard microelectronics technology. A development of the mathematics involved in its operation is carried out in order to understand the physics of the detector, showing a gain factor in the photocurrent. Computer simulations of the fabrication process and photoelectric response of the device confirmed photocurrent values higher than the expected for a photodiode with efficiency = 1, thus demonstrating a new integrable photodetector with gain, capable of detecting light in the range of nW for electrophotonic applications.

Highlights

Received: 14 December 2021Seamless silicon integrated electrophotonics is the combination of electronic and photonic devices to produce a monolithic circuit which simultaneously controls and manipulates both optical and electronic signals
As an alternative to higher power light sources, which present lower compatibility for integration, we propose the development of more adequate electrophotonic sensors to counteract this limitation by the emitter, as the presently existing photodetectors are not developed within the intimate integration philosophy that electrophotonics offer [25]
The WS integrates a light emitter, waveguide, and a photodetector. In spite that it is a MOS-like structure, its operation is significantly different from the usual electrical amplification mechanisms

Summary

Introduction

Seamless silicon integrated electrophotonics is the combination of electronic and photonic devices to produce a monolithic circuit which simultaneously controls and manipulates both optical and electronic signals. There are three basic elements considered the bare minimum to obtain an electrophotonic circuit: light emitters in silicon, waveguides compatible with silicon technology, and silicon photodetectors [1,2]. In the past few years, the development of silicon light sources has advanced significantly, and integration of such devices into electrophotonic circuits has been demonstrated [3,4,5,6,7,8]. Oxide (SRO) as an active light emission layer [12,13,14,15].

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