G. Masini et al., Near-infrared waveguide photodetectors based on polycrystalline Ge on silicon-on-insulator substrates, OPT MATER, 17(1-2), 2001, pp. 243-246
Polycrystalline germanium thermally evaporated on silicon has been demonstr
ated as a feasible way to the integration of fast near-infrared photodetect
ors and functional devices on silicon. However, the use of such devices is
currently limited to applications which do not depend critically on respons
ivity. Several attempts are under investigation to overcome the problem: on
e of the most promising is the integration of a poly-Ge photodetector with
a waveguiding structure. This approach allows the distributed absorption of
the incoming light in the thin sensitive layer of the poly-Ge/Si heterojun
ction, thus increasing the effective absorption length and efficiency. (C)
2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.