No Arabic abstract
In integrated photonics, specific wavelengths are preferred such as 1550 nm due to low-loss transmission and the availability of optical gain in this spectral region. For chip-based photodetectors, layered two-dimensional (2D) materials bear scientific and technologically-relevant properties leading to strong light-matter-interaction devices due to effects such as reduced coulomb screening or excitonic states. However, no efficient photodetector in the telecommunication C-band using 2D materials has been realized yet. Here, we demonstrate a MoTe2-based photodetector featuring strong photoresponse (responsivity = 0.5 A/W) operating at 1550nm on silicon photonic waveguide enabled by engineering the strain (4%) inside the photo-absorbing transition-metal-dichalcogenide film. We show that an induced tensile strain of ~4% reduces the bandgap of MoTe2 by about 0.2 eV by microscopically measuring the work-function across the device. Unlike Graphene-based photodetectors relying on a gapless band structure, this semiconductor-2D material detector shows a ~100X improved dark current enabling an efficient noise-equivalent power of just 90 pW/Hz^0.5. Such strain-engineered integrated photodetector provides new opportunities for integrated optoelectronic systems.
Graphene has extraordinary electro-optic properties and is therefore a promising candidate for monolithic photonic devices such as photodetectors. However, the integration of this atom-thin layer material with bulky photonic components usually results in a weak light-graphene interaction leading to large device lengths limiting electro-optic performance. In contrast, here we demonstrate a plasmonic slot graphene photodetector on silicon-on-insulator platform with high-responsivity given the 5 um-short device length. We observe that the maximum photocurrent, and hence the highest responsivity, scales inversely with the slot gap width. Using a dual-lithography step, we realize 15 nm narrow slots that show a 15-times higher responsivity per unit device-length compared to photonic graphene photodetectors. Furthermore, we reveal that the back-gated electrostatics is overshadowed by channel-doping contributions induced by the contacts of this ultra-short channel graphene photodetector. This leads to quasi charge neutrality, which explains both the previously-unseen offset between the maximum photovoltaic-based photocurrent relative to graphenes Dirac point and the observed non-ambipolar transport. Such micrometer compact and absorption-efficient photodetectors allow for short-carrier pathways in next-generation photonic components, while being an ideal testbed to study short-channel carrier physics in graphene optoelectronics.
Low-loss photonic integrated circuits (PIC) and microresonators have enabled novel applications ranging from narrow-linewidth lasers, microwave photonics, to chip-scale optical frequency combs and quantum frequency conversion. To translate these results into a widespread technology, attaining ultralow optical losses with established foundry manufacturing is critical. Recent advances in fabrication of integrated Si3N4 photonics have shown that ultralow-loss, dispersion-engineered microresonators can be attained at die-level throughput. For emerging nonlinear applications such as integrated travelling-wave parametric amplifiers and mode-locked lasers, PICs of length scales of up to a meter are required, placing stringent demands on yield and performance that have not been met with current fabrication techniques. Here we overcome these challenges and demonstrate a fabrication technology which meets all these requirements on wafer-level yield, performance and length scale. Photonic microresonators with a mean Q factor exceeding 30 million, corresponding to a linear propagation loss of 1.0 dB/m, are obtained over full 4-inch wafers, as determined from a statistical analysis of tens of thousands of optical resonances and cavity ringdown with 19 ns photon storage time. The process operates over large areas with high yield, enabling 1-meter-long spiral waveguides with 2.4 dB/m loss in dies of only 5x5 mm size. Using a modulation response measurement self-calibrated via the Kerr nonlinearity, we reveal that, strikingly, the intrinsic absorption-limited Q factor of our Si3N4 microresonators exceeds a billion. Transferring the present Si3N4 photonics technology to standard commercial foundries, and merging it with silicon photonics using heterogeneous integration technology, will significantly expand the scope of todays integrated photonics and seed new applications.
Graphene and other two-dimensional (2D) materials have emerged as promising materials for broadband and ultrafast photodetection and optical modulation. These optoelectronic capabilities can augment complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices for high-speed and low-power optical interconnects. Here, we demonstrate an on-chip ultrafast photodetector based on a two-dimensional heterostructure consisting of high-quality graphene encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitride. Coupled to the optical mode of a silicon waveguide, this 2D heterostructure-based photodetector exhibits a maximum responsivity of 0.36 A/W and high-speed operation with a 3 dB cut-off at 42 GHz. From photocurrent measurements as a function of the top-gate and source-drain voltages, we conclude that the photoresponse is consistent with hot electron mediated effects. At moderate peak powers above 50 mW, we observe a saturating photocurrent consistent with the mechanisms of electron-phonon supercollision cooling. This nonlinear photoresponse enables optical on-chip autocorrelation measurements with picosecond-scale timing resolution and exceptionally low peak powers.
We present waveguide integrated high-speed Si photodetector integrated with silicon nitride (SiN) waveguide on SOI platform for short reach data communication in 850 nm wavelength band. We demonstrate a waveguide couple Si pin photodetector responsivity of 0.44 A/W at 25 V bias. The frequency response of the photodetector is evaluated by coupling of a femtosecond laser source through SiN grating coupler of the integrated photodetector. We estimate a 3dB bandwidth of 14 GHz at 20 V bias, highest reported bandwidth for a waveguide integrated Si photodetector. We also present detailed optoelectronic DC and AC characterisation of the fabricated devices. The demonstrated integrated photodetector could enable an integrated solution for scaling of short reach data communication and connectivity.
Graphene integrated photonics provides several advantages over conventional Si photonics. Single layer graphene (SLG) enables fast, broadband, and energy-efficient electro-optic modulators, optical switches and photodetectors (GPDs), and is compatible with any optical waveguide. The last major barrier to SLG-based optical receivers lies in the low responsivity - electrical output per optical input - of GPDs compared to conventional PDs. Here we overcome this shortfall by integrating a photo-thermoelectric GPD with a Si microring resonator. Under critical coupling, we achieve $>$90% light absorption in a $sim$6 $mu$m SLG channel along the Si waveguide. Exploiting the cavity-enhanced light-matter interaction, causing carriers in SLG to reach $sim$400 K for an input power of $sim$0.6 mW, we get a voltage responsivity $sim$90 V/W, demonstrating the feasibility of our approach. Our device is capable of detecting data rates up to 20 Gbit/s, with a receiver sensitivity enabling it to operate at a 10$^{-9}$ bit-error rate, on par with mature semiconductor technology. The natural generation of a voltage rather than a current, removes the need for transimpedance amplification, with a reduction of the energy-per-bit cost and foot-print, when compared to a traditional semiconductor-based receiver.