Performance optimization of waveguided germanium pin photodetector for optical communication applications

Abstract

We investigated the impact of contact engineering for Germanium photodetectors performance optimization. Split contacts increased the PD responsivity by ~2 times when compared to rectangle or island block contacts. In addition, dark current and bandwidth was shown to be highly dependent on n++ doping region whereby there is a trade-off for both parameters. From this work, a route to high responsivity and high speed detector can be achieved.