All-silicon microring avalanche photodiodes with a >65 A/W response

Abstract

We report an all-Si microring (MRR) avalanche photodiode (APD) with an ultrahigh responsivity (R) of 65 A/W, dark current of 6.5 µA, and record gain-bandwidth product (GBP) of 798 GHz at −7.36 V. The mechanisms for the high responsivity have been modelled and investigated. Furthermore, open eye diagrams up to 20 Gb/s are supported at 1310 nm at −7.36 V. The device is the first, to the best of our knowledge, low cost all-Si APD that has potential to compete with current commercial Ge- and III–V-based photodetectors (PDs). This shows the potential to make the all-Si APD a standard “black-box” component in Si photonics CMOS foundry platform component libraries.