High-speed III-V nanowire photodetector monolithically integrated on Si.

Mauthe, Svenja; Baumgartner, Yannick; Sousa, Marilyne; Ding, Qian; Rossell, Marta D; Schenk, Andreas; Czornomaz, Lukas; Moselund, Kirsten E · Nat Commun · 2020

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Direct epitaxial growth of III-Vs on silicon for optical emitters and detectors is an elusive goal. Nanowires enable the local integration of high-quality III-V material, but advanced devices are hampered by their high-aspect ratio vertical geometry. Here, we demonstrate the in-plane monolithic integration of an InGaAs nanostructure p-i-n photodetector on Si. Using free space coupling, photodetectors demonstrate a spectral response from 1200-1700 nm. The 60 nm thin devices, with footprints as low as ~0.06 μm<sup>2</sup>, provide an ultra-low capacitance which is key for high-speed operation. We demonstrate high-speed optical data reception with a nanostructure photodetector at 32 Gb s<sup>-1</sup>, enabled by a 3 dB bandwidth exceeding ~25 GHz. When operated as light emitting diode, the p-i-n devices emit around 1600 nm, paving the way for future fully integrated optical links.