Monolithically integrated, broadband, high-efficiency silicon nitride-on-silicon waveguide photodetectors in a visible-light integrated photonics platform.

Lin, Yiding; Yong, Zheng; Luo, Xianshu; Azadeh, Saeed Sharif; Mikkelsen, Jared C; Sharma, Ankita; Chen, Hong; Mak, Jason C C et al. · Nat Commun · 2022

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Visible and near-infrared spectrum photonic integrated circuits are quickly becoming a key technology to address the scaling challenges in quantum information and biosensing. Thus far, integrated photonic platforms in this spectral range have lacked integrated photodetectors. Here, we report silicon nitride-on-silicon waveguide photodetectors that are monolithically integrated in a visible light photonic platform on silicon. Owing to a leaky-wave silicon nitride-on-silicon design, the devices achieved a high external quantum efficiency of >60% across a record wavelength span from λ ~ 400 nm to ~640 nm, an opto-electronic bandwidth up to 9 GHz, and an avalanche gain-bandwidth product up to 173 ± 30 GHz. As an example, a photodetector was integrated with a wavelength-tunable microring in a single chip for on-chip power monitoring.