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Integrated avalanche photodetectors for visible light.
Salih Yanikgonul1,2,3, Victor Leong4, Jun Rong Ong5
1Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore.
Nature Communications
|March 24, 2021
Summary
Researchers developed the first integrated avalanche photodetector (APD) for visible light, achieving high performance for silicon photonics. This breakthrough enables new possibilities for visible light sensing, imaging, and quantum applications.
Area of Science:
- Photonics and Optoelectronics
- Integrated Silicon Photonics
- Semiconductor Device Physics
Background:
- Integrated photodetectors are crucial for scalable photonic systems.
- Existing integrated photodetectors primarily target infrared wavelengths.
- A need exists for efficient visible light integrated photodetectors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To report the first monolithically integrated avalanche photodetector (APD) for visible light.
- To demonstrate high-performance characteristics competitive with infrared APDs.
- To enable new applications in visible light sensing, imaging, and quantum technologies.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of a doped silicon rib waveguide with end-fire coupling to a silicon nitride waveguide.
- Characterization of the integrated APD performance at visible wavelengths (685 nm).
- Measurement of key parameters including gain-bandwidth product, dark current, and data transmission rates.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated a high gain-bandwidth product of 234 ± 25 GHz at 20 V reverse bias.
- Achieved a low dark current of 0.12 μA.
- Observed open eye diagrams at data rates up to 56 Gbps.
Conclusions:
- The developed integrated APD offers competitive performance for visible light applications.
- CMOS-compatible fabrication ensures integrability with existing silicon photonic platforms.
- The device is highly suitable for sensing, imaging, communications, and quantum applications in the visible spectrum.
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