HIGH SPEED, WIDE OPTICAL BANDWIDTH, AND HIGH EFFICIENCY RESONANT CAVITY ENHANCED PHOTO-DETECTOR

• US 20120018744A1
• Filed: 07/23/2010
• Published: 01/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Dosunmu, Olufemi I., Liu, Ansheng
• Granted Patent: US 8,330,171 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 257/82
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/02165 using interference filters, e.g. multilayer dielectric filters interference filters G02B5/28
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/103 the potential barrier being of the PN homojunction type

Abstract

A single optical receiver having a photo-detector with a wide optical bandwidth and high efficiency within the wide optical bandwidth, the photo-detector comprising: a first diode region of first doping type for receiving light; a second diode region of second doping type and of second thickness; an active region for converting the received light to an electronic signal, the active region having a third thickness and configured to reside between the first diode region and the second diode region; and a reflector coupled to the second diode region and having a silicon layer with a fourth thickness, the silicon layer residing between silicon oxide layers of fifth thicknesses, wherein the active region is configured to absorb the light of wavelengths of less than 900 nm, and wherein the reflector is configured to reflect the light of wavelengths from a range of 1260 nm to 1380 nm.

Claims

1. A photo-detector comprising:

a first diode region of first doping type for receiving light;

a second diode region of second doping type and of second thickness;

an active region for converting the received light to an electronic signal, the active region having a third thickness and configured to reside between the first diode region and the second diode region; and

a reflector coupled to the second diode region and having a silicon layer with a fourth thickness, the silicon layer residing between silicon oxide layers of fifth thicknesses, wherein the third thickness of the active region is configured to absorb light of wavelengths of less than 900 nm, and wherein the forth and the fifth thicknesses of the reflector are configured to reflect light of wavelengths from a range of 1260 nm to 1380 nm.

2. The photo-detector of claim 1 further comprising:

a passivation layer of sixth thickness surrounding a portion of the active region and the first diode region; and

an interface layer having an anti-reflective-coating (ARC) of first thickness and coupled to the passivation layer, wherein a portion of the passivation layer is of the first doping type and is coupled to the interface layer.

3. The photo-detector of claim 2, wherein the passivation layer includes silicon.

4. The photo-detector of claim 2, wherein:

the first thickness is from a range of 500 nm to 521 nm, and

the sixth thickness is from a range of 184 nm to 192 nm.

5. The photo-detector of claim 1, wherein the fifth thicknesses are an odd multiple of a quarter of a wavelength of light normalized by the refractive index of silicon-oxide (SiO₂).

6. The photo-detector of claim 1 wherein:

the second thickness is from a range of 529 nm to 551 nm,

the third thickness is from a range of 1078 nm to 1122 nm,

the fourth thickness is from a range of 276 nm to 288 nm, and

the fifth thicknesses are from a range of 223 nm to 233 nm.

7. The photo-detector of claim 1 further comprising electrical contacts coupled to the first diode region and the second diode region, the electrical contacts for providing the electronic signal generated from the received light.

8. The photo-detector of claim 1, wherein the first diode region includes germanium, wherein the second diode region includes silicon, and wherein the first and the second doping types are of opposite polarities, one of an N-doping type doping and the other of a P-doping type doping.

9. The photo-detector of claim 1, wherein the reflector is a Double-Silicon-On-Insulator (DSOI) reflector.

10. The photo-detector of claim 1, wherein the reflector is a Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR).

11. A system comprising:

a transmitter to transmit an optical signal over an optical waveguide; and

a receiver to receive the optical signal and having a photo-detector comprising;

a first diode region of first doping type;

a second diode region of second doping type and of second thickness;

an active region for converting the received optical signal to an electronic signal, the active region having a third thickness and configured to reside between the first diode region and the second diode region; and

a reflector coupled to the second diode region and having a silicon layer with a fourth thickness, the silicon layer residing between silicon oxide layers of fifth thicknesses, wherein the third thickness of the active region is configured to absorb light of wavelengths of less than 900 nm, and wherein the forth and the fifth thicknesses of the reflector are configured to reflect light of wavelengths from a range of 1260 nm to 1380 nm.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising:

a passivation layer of sixth thickness surrounding a portion of the active region and the first diode region; and

an interface layer having an anti-reflective-coating (ARC) of first thickness and coupled to the passivation layer, wherein a portion of the passivation layer is of the first doping type and is coupled to the interface layer.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the passivation layer includes silicon.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the first thickness is from a range of 500 nm to 521 nm, and

the sixth thickness is from a range of 184 nm to 192 nm.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the fifth thicknesses are an odd multiple of a quarter of a wavelength of light normalized by the refractive index of Silicon-oxide (SiO₂).

16. The system of claim 11 wherein:

the second thickness is from a range of 529 nm to 551 nm,

the third thickness is from a range of 1078 nm to 1122 nm,

the fourth thickness is from a range of 276 nm to 288 nm, and

the fifth thicknesses are from a range of 223 nm to 233 nm.

17. The system of claim 11 further comprising electrical contacts coupled to the first diode region and the second diode region, wherein the electrical contacts for providing the electronic signal being generated from the received light.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the first diode region includes germanium, wherein the second diode region includes silicon, and wherein the first and the second doping types are of opposite polarities, one of an N-doping type doping and the other of a P-doping type doping.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the reflector is a Double-Silicon-On-Insulator (DSOI) reflector.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the photo-detector is an array of photo-detectors.