Separate-absorption-charge-multiplication Research Articles

Lateral separate absorption charge multiplication Ge-on-Si avalanche photodiode with low dark current in linear mode

To suppress the dark current and improve the detection sensitivity of the Germanium-on-silicon (Ge-on-Si) avalanche photodiode (APD), we report an integrated waveguide-based Ge-on-Si APD with a lateral separate absorption charge multiplication (SACM) structure, which works at low bias voltage. The breakdown voltage (Vbr) of the lateral SACM APD in linear mode is about 5.81 V, and the device demonstrates very low dark current of 0.157 nA and 40.7 nA at unity gain voltage (VGain=1=3.5 V) and 0.95Vbr (∼5.5 V), at room temperature. We also study the single photon detection performance of the device in Geiger mode. The practical dark count rate (DCR) at 300 K is with the same order of magnitude as the vertical SACM Ge-on-Si APD operating at 200 K. With the wavelength and average photon number of weak coherent pulse are 1550 nm and 0.1, respectively, the theoretical single photon detection efficiency (SPDE) of the device can achieve 0.4% at 300 K, which will reduce the dependence of the weak light detection system on the low-temperature working environment.

Germanium-on-silicon avalanche photodiode for 1550 nm weak light signal detection at room temperature

To optimize the dark current characteristic and detection efficiency of the 1550 nm weak light signal at room temperature, this work proposes a Ge-on-Si avalanche photodiode (APD) in Geiger mode, which could operate at 300 K. This lateral separate absorption charge multiplication APD shows a low breakdown voltage (Vbr) in Geiger mode of -7.42 V and low dark current of 0.096 nA at unity gain voltage (VGain=1 = -7.03 V). Combined with an RF amplifier module and counter, the detection system demonstrates a low dark count rate (DCR) of 1.1×106 counts per second and high detection efficiency η of 7.8% for 1550 nm weak coherent pulse detection at 300 K. The APD reported in this work weakens the dependence of the weak optical signal recognition on the low environment temperature and makes single-chip integration of the single-photon level detection system possible.

Equivalent circuit model of Ge/Si separate absorption charge multiplication avalanche photodiode

The equivalent circuit model of Ge/Si Separate Absorption Charge Multiplication Avalanche Photodiode (SACM-APD) is proposed. Starting from the carrier rate equations in different regions of device and considering the influences of non-uniform electric field, noise, parasitic effect and some other factors, the equivalent circuit model of SACM-APD device is established, in which the steady-state and transient current voltage characteristics can be described exactly. In addition, the proposed Ge/Si SACM APD equivalent circuit model is embedded in PSpice simulator. The important characteristics of Ge/Si SACM APD such as dark current, frequency response, shot noise are simulated, the simulation results show that the simulation with the proposed model are in good agreement with the experimental results.

High-speed waveguide-integrated Ge/Si avalanche photodetector**Project supported by the National State Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2013CB632103) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61177038, 61377045, and 61176013).

Waveguide-integrated Ge/Si heterostructure avalanche photodetectors (APDs) were designed and fabricated using a CMOS-compatible process on 8-inch SOI substrate. The structure of the APD was designed as separate-absorption-charge-multiplication (SACM) using germanium and silicon as absorption region and multiplication region, respectively. The breakdown voltage (Vb) of such a device is 19 V at reverse bias and dark current appears to be 0.71 μA at 90% of the Vb. The device with a 10-μm length and 7-μm width of Ge layer shows a maximum 3-dB bandwidth of 17.8 GHz at the wavelength of 1550 nm. For the device with a 30-μm-length Ge region, gain-bandwidth product achieves 325 GHz.

310 GHz gain-bandwidth product Ge/Si avalanche photodetector for 1550 nm light detection

We report a normal incidence Ge/Si avalanche photodiode with separate-absorption-charge-multiplication (SACM) structure by selective epitaxial growth. By proper design of charge and multiplication layers and by optimizing the electric field distribution in the depletion region to eliminate germanium impact-ionization at high gain, a high responsivity of 12 A/W and a large gain-bandwidth product of 310 GHz have been achieved at 1550 nm.

Derivation of the Small Signal Response and Equivalent Circuit Model for a Separate Absorption and Multiplication Layer Avalanche Photodetector

A small signal analysis for a separate-absorption-charge-multiplication (SACM) avalanche photodetector (APD) is presented for the general case when the electrons and the holes have different ionization coefficients and different velocities. The analytic expressions for the impedance and frequency response are given and a simplified equivalent circuit (including an inductance with a series resistance in parallel with a capacitance) for the APD is obtained. The calculation and experimental results show that the impedance of the APD operated at high bias voltages has a maximal value at a certain frequency due to the resonance of the LC-circuit, and this is the origin for a peak-enhancement of the frequency response.