All-silicon PIN photodetector based on black silicon microstructure

Zheng Zeyu; Luo Qian; Xu Kaikai; Liu Zhongyuan; Zhu Kunfeng

doi:10.12086/oee.2021.200364

Article navigation > Opto-Electronic Engineering > 2021 Vol. 48 > No. 5 > 200364

Next Article Previous Article

Zheng Z Y, Luo Q, Xu K K, et al. All-silicon PIN photodetector based on black silicon microstructure[J]. Opto-Electron Eng, 2021, 48(5): 200364. doi: 10.12086/oee.2021.200364

Citation:

Zheng Z Y, Luo Q, Xu K K, et al. All-silicon PIN photodetector based on black silicon microstructure[J]. Opto-Electron Eng, 2021, 48(5): 200364. doi: 10.12086/oee.2021.200364

All-silicon PIN photodetector based on black silicon microstructure

1.
Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Film and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China
2.
The 44th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Corporation, Chongqing 400060, China
3.
The 24th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Corporation, Chongqing 400060, China

Fund Project: National Key R & D Program of China (2018YFE0181500), the Ministry of Science and Technology (2018YFB2201203), the Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of Sichuan (2020JDJQ0022), Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology (2019YFG0091), and Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology (2020ZHCG0008)

More Information

Corresponding author: Xu Kaikai, E-mail：kaikaix@uestc.edu.cn

Received Date 10 October 2020

Revised Date 05 February 2021

Published Date 15 May 2021

Abstract

Abstract

An all-silicon PIN photodetector based on black silicon microstructure is reported. The device combines the characteristics of broad spectrum and high absorption of black silicon structure and the characteristics of high quantum efficiency and high response speed of PIN photodetectors. By adding a black silicon microstructure layer based on the traditional silicon PIN photodetector structure, the response characteristics of the detector in the near-infrared band are improved without affecting the response speed. A method is proposed to solve the contradiction between quantum efficiency and response speed in the vertical structure of the PIN photodetector. The test results show that the quantum efficiency of the device can reach 80%, and the peak wavelength is 940 nm. The light responsivity reaches 0.55 A/W, and the dark current is about 700 pA. The response time is 200 ns.
- all-silicon PIN photodetector /
- black silicon /
- quantum efficiency /
- light responsivity /
- responding speed /
- dark current

FullText(HTML)

References

[1]	Yin T, Cohen R, Morse M M, et al. 31 GHz Ge n-i-p waveguide photodetectors on Silicon-on-Insulator substrate[J]. Opt Express, 2007, 15(21): 13965-13971. doi: 10.1364/OE.15.013965 CrossRef Google Scholar
[2]	Virot L, Benedikovic D, Szelag B, et al. Integrated waveguide PIN photodiodes exploiting lateral Si/Ge/Si heterojunction[J]. Opt Express, 2017, 25(16): 19487-19496. doi: 10.1364/OE.25.019487 CrossRef Google Scholar
[3]	Benedikovic D, Virot L, Aubin G, et al. 25 Gbps low-voltage hetero-structured silicon-germanium waveguide pin photodetectors for monolithic on-chip nanophotonic architectures[J]. Photonics Res, 2019, 7(4): 437-444. doi: 10.1364/PRJ.7.000437 CrossRef Google Scholar
[4]	Chen H, Verheyen P, De Heyn P, et al. Dark current analysis in high-speed germanium p-i-n waveguide photodetectors[J]. J Appl Phys, 2016, 119(21): 213105. doi: 10.1063/1.4953147 CrossRef Google Scholar
[5]	Chen H, Verheyen P, De Heyn P, et al. -1 V bias 67 GHz bandwidth Si-contacted germanium waveguide p-i-n photodetector for optical links at 56 Gbps and beyond[J]. Opt Express, 2016, 24(5): 4622-4631. doi: 10.1364/OE.24.004622 CrossRef Google Scholar
[6]	Cho H M, Barber W C, Ding H J, et al. Characteristic performance evaluation of a photon counting Si strip detector for low dose spectral breast CT imaging[J]. Med Phys, 2014, 41(9): 091903. doi: 10.1118/1.4892174 CrossRef Google Scholar
[7]	Vaseashta A, Khudaverdyan S. Advanced Sensors for Safety and Security[M]. Dordrecht: Springer, 2013. Google Scholar
[8]	Ho C K, Robinson A, Miller D R, et al. Overview of sensors and needs for environmental monitoring[J]. Sensors, 2005, 5(2): 4-37. doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2005.846481 CrossRef Google Scholar
[9]	Menon P S, Shaari S. Surface versus lateral illumination effects on an interdigitated Si planar PIN photodiode[J]. Proc SPIE, 2005, 5881: 58810S. doi: 10.1117/12.616283 CrossRef Google Scholar
[10]	Tasirin S K, Menon P S, Ahmad I, et al. High performance silicon lateral PIN photodiode[J]. IOP Conf Ser: Earth Environ Sci, 2013, 16: 012032. doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/16/1/012032 CrossRef Google Scholar
[11]	Her T H, Finlay R J, Wu C, et al. Microstructuring of silicon with femtosecond laser pulses[J]. Appl Phys Lett, 1998, 73(12): 1673-1675. doi: 10.1063/1.122241 CrossRef Google Scholar
[12]	Wu C, Crouch C H, Zhao L, et al. Near-unity below-band-gap absorption by microstructured silicon[J]. Appl Phys Lett, 2001, 78(13): 1850-1852. doi: 10.1063/1.1358846 CrossRef Google Scholar
[13]	Savin H, Repo P, von Gastrow G, et al. Black silicon solar cells with interdigitated back-contacts achieve 22.1% efficiency[J]. Nat Nanotechnol, 2015, 10(7): 624-628. doi: 10.1038/nnano.2015.89 CrossRef Google Scholar
[14]	Winkler M T, Sher M J, Lin Y T, et al. Studying femtosecond-laser hyperdoping by controlling surface morphology[J]. J Appl Phys, 2012, 111(9): 093511. doi: 10.1063/1.4709752 CrossRef Google Scholar
[15]	Crouch C H, Carey J E, Shen M, et al. Infrared absorption by sulfur-doped silicon formed by femtosecond laser irradiation[J]. Appl Phys A, 2004, 79(7): 1635-1641. doi: 10.1007/s00339-004-2676-0 CrossRef Google Scholar
[16]	Sher M J. Intermediate band properties of femtosecond-laser hyperdoped silicon[D]. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 2013. Google Scholar
[17]	Baker‐Finch S C, Mcintosh K R. Reflection distributions of textured monocrystalline silicon: implications for silicon solar cells[J]. Prog Photovolt, 2013, 21(5): 960-971. Google Scholar
[18]	Peng K Q, Xu Y, Wu Y, et al. Aligned single-crystalline Si nanowire arrays for photovoltaic applications[J]. Small, 2005, 1(11): 1062-1067. doi: 10.1002/smll.200500137 CrossRef Google Scholar
[19]	Shen M Y, Crouch C H, Carey J E, et al. Femtosecond laser-induced formation of submicrometer spikes on silicon in water[J]. Appl Phys Lett, 2004, 85(23): 5694-5696. doi: 10.1063/1.1828575 CrossRef Google Scholar
[20]	Hamamatsu Photonicas. Silicon photodiode S1336-8BK[EB/OL]. [2021-01-12]. http://www.hamamatsu.com.cn/product/17585.html. Google Scholar
[21]	Hamamatsu Photonicas. Silicon photodiode S3477-04[EB/OL]. [2021-01-12]. http://www.hamamatsu.com.cn/product/17626.html. Google Scholar
[22]	Hamamatsu Photonicas. Silicon photodiode S12698-02[EB/OL]. [2021-01-12]. http://www.hamamatsu.com.cn/product/18699.html. Google Scholar

Overview

Overview

Overview: Silicon-based PIN photodetectors have become one of the most widely used detectors in the field of optoelectronics due to their high photoresponse, fast response speed, and stable performance. Since silicon is an indirect band gap material and cannot absorb light waves with a wavelength greater than 1100 nm, silicon PIN photodetectors are mostly used to detect visible light and near-infrared light.

According to the direction of the PIN junction inside the device, silicon PIN detectors are mainly divided into lateral side incident type and vertical surface incident type. Although the vertical incidence silicon PIN photodetector has a larger light receiving area than the horizontal PIN detector, the band gap of silicon limits its ability to absorb near-infrared light. In order to improve the response speed of traditional silicon PIN photodetectors with vertical incidence, the high resistance intrinsic region is usually narrowed to minimize the drift time of photo-generated carriers. However, a too thin I region will cause the incident long-wave photons to be emitted from the device without completely converting them into photo-generated carriers, which reduces the quantum efficiency and photoresponsivity of the device. Therefore, the vertical incidence silicon PIN photodetector faces the contradiction between high quantum efficiency and high response speed.

This paper reports an all-silicon PIN photodetector based on the black silicon microstructure. Femtosecond laser technology is used to set a layer of the black silicon microstructure on the back of the traditional PIN detector to form supersaturated doping on the surface of the silicon material. The photons with energy less than the band gap can also be absorbed by the modified silicon material, which improves the absorption rate of visible light and near-infrared light. And this black silicon microstructure layer also forms a light reflector with the back aluminum electrode, which can effectively reflect the unabsorbed near-infrared light back to the substrate and increase the incident light in the depletion zone by changing the reflection path of the incident light. The effective optical path length makes more photo-generated carriers generated in the depletion region, which improves the light responsivity and quantum efficiency of the device in the near-infrared band.

By adding a black silicon microstructure layer on the basis of the traditional silicon PIN photodetector structure, the response characteristics of the detector in the near-infrared band are improved without affecting the response speed. A method is proposed to solve the contradiction between the quantum efficiency and the response speed in the vertical structure of the PIN photodetector. It has been tested and verified that the device has a responsivity of 0.55 A/W at 940 nm, which is about 10% higher than the traditional PIN detector. The quantum efficiency can reach 80%.