HKUST scientists demonstrated high-performance photodetectors (PDs) grown on SOI for silicon photonics
A research team led by Prof. Kei May LAU has recently developed a novel semiconductor deposition scheme and demonstrated high-performance photodetectors (PDs) grown on silicon-on-insulators (SOI) for silicon photonics. These III-V photodetectors are qualified candidates for high-speed data communications in silicon photonics. These results point to a practical solution for the monolithic integration of III-V active devices and Si-based passive devices on the SOI platform in the future.
The team developed the lateral aspect ratio trapping (ART) method to grow III-V materials on SOI without the need of thick buffers. III-V PDs grown on SOI by this method feature an in-plane configuration with the Si-device layer, which allows easy integration of the PDs and Si-waveguides. The team designed and fabricated III-V PDs with a variety of dimensions on a monolithic InP/SOI platform, also developed by the team. The PDs feature a large 3 dB bandwidth exceeding 40 GHz, a high responsivity of 0.3 A/W at 1550 nm and 0.8 A/W at 1310 nm, a wide operation wavelength span over 400 nm, and a low dark current of 0.55 nA. The photocurrents is adjustable for various applications by varying the length of the PDs. Design of interfacing these PDs with Si-waveguides can be flexible and simple.
This is a collaborative work with a research team led by Prof. Hon-Ki TSANG of Department of Electronic Engineering at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).
The device fabrication technology in the work was developed at HKUST’s Nanosystem Fabrication Facility (NFF) on Clear Water Bay campus. The research output has recently been published in Optica.
Ying Xue, Yu Han, Yeyu Tong, Zhao Yan, Yi Wang, Zunyue Zhang, Hon Ki Tsang, and Kei May Lau. "High-performance III-V photodetectors on a monolithic InP/SOI platform". Optica. Vol. 8, Issue 9, pp. 1204-1209 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.431357
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