A hybrid silicon evanescent photodetector

The work presented here is a silicon evanescent waveguide photodetector utilizing AlGalnAs quantum wells as an absorbing region, covering a wavelength range up to 1600 nm with a quantum efficiency of 90 %. The materials and processing are compatible with the hybrid silicon photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology platform which has already demonstrated lasers and optical amplifiers.

Significant research effort in silicon photonics has focused on realizing individual optical components that are suitable for photonic integrated circuits, including active devices such as lasers, modulators, and photodetectors as well as passive waveguide devices. Photodetectors are one of the important components that convert optical signals into the electrical domain for further signal processing and data manipulation. Germanium waveguide photodetectors (WPD) have been demonstrated using selective growth on a silicon-on-insulator platform [1], and a SiGe WPD has been investigated to reduce the lattice mismatch experienced by Ge photodetectors [2] in the wavelength regime of and . The work presented here is a silicon evanescent waveguide photodetector utilizing AlGaInAs quantum wells as an absorbing region, covering a wavelength range up to 1600 nm with a quantum efficiency of 90%. The materials and processing are compatible with the hybrid silicon photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology platform which has already demonstrated lasers [3] and optical amplifiers [4].