Near-infrared germanium PIN-photodiodes with &gt; 1A/W responsivity

Hanchen Liu; Toni P. Pasanen; Tsun Hang Fung; Joonas Isometsä; Antti Haarahiltunen; Steven Hesse; Lutz Werner; Ville Vähänissi; Hele Savin

doi:10.1038/s41377-024-01670-4

Go to Nature Website

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

Near-infrared germanium PIN-photodiodes with > 1A/W responsivity

Original Articles

- Near-infrared germanium PIN-photodiodes with > 1A/W responsivity
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 1, Pages: 110-117(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Aalto University, Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Espoo, Finland
  2.ElFys, Inc., Espoo, Finland
  3.Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Berlin, Germany
- Author bio：
  
  Hele Savin (hele.savin@aalto.fi)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-024-01670-4
  CLC：
- Published：31 January 2025，
  
  Published Online：01 January 2025，
  
  Received：30 April 2024，
  
  Revised：18 October 2024，
  
  Accepted：2024-10-26
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Liu, H. C. et al. Near-infrared germanium PIN-photodiodes with > 1A/W responsivity. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 110-117 (2025).
DOI：

Liu, H. C. et al. Near-infrared germanium PIN-photodiodes with > 1A/W responsivity. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 110-117 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-024-01670-4.

摘要

Abstract

Even though efficient near-infrared (NIR) detection is critical for numerous applications

state-of-the-art NIR detectors either suffer from limited capability of detecting incoming photons

i.e.

have poor spectral responsivity

or are made of expensive group Ⅲ-Ⅴ non-CMOS compatible materials. Here we present a nanoengineered PIN-photodiode made of CMOS-compatible germanium (Ge) that achieves a verified external quantum efficiency (EQE) above 90% over a wide wavelength range (1.2–1.6 µm) at zero bias voltage at room temperature. For instance

at 1.55 µm

this corresponds to a responsivity of 1.15 A/W. In addition to the excellent spectral responsivity at NIR

the performance at visible and ultraviolet wavelengths remains high (EQE exceeds even 100% below 300 nm) resulting in an exceptionally wide spectral response range. The high performance is achieved by minimizing optical losses using surface nanostructures and electrical losses using both conformal atomic-layer-deposited aluminum oxide surface passivation and dielectric induced electric field -based carrier collection instead of conventional pn-junction. The dark current density of 76 µA/cm

measured at a reverse bias of 5 V is lower than previously reported for Ge photodiodes. The presented results should have an immediate impact on the design and manufacturing of Ge photodiodes and NIR detection in general.

关键词

Keywords

references

Thimsen, E., Sadtler, B. & Berezin, M. Y. Shortwave-infrared (SWIR) emitters for biological imaging: a review of challenges and opportunities. Nanophotonics 6 , 1043–1054 (2017)..

Sevick-Muraca, E. M. Optical imaging: Resolutely deep and fast. Nat. Biomed. Eng. 1 , 0064 (2017)..

Kantamneni, H. et al. Surveillance nanotechnology for multi-organ cancer metastases. Nat. Biomed. Eng. 1 , 993–1003 (2017)..

González, A. et al. Pedestrian detection at day/night time with visible and FIR cameras: A comparison. Sensors 16 , 820 (2016)..

Shenk J. S., Workman J. J., Westerhaus M. O. Application of NIR Spectroscopy to Agricultural Products. In: Handbook of Near-Infrared Analysis . CRC Press, pp 365–404 (2007).

Chen, H. & Chen, J. PbS QDs/Al2O3/In0.53Ga0.47As infrared photodetector with fast response and high sensitivity. Appl Phys. Lett. 121 , 181106 (2022)..

Shen, Y. et al. Near 100% external quantum efficiency 1550-nm broad spectrum photodetector. Opt. Express 30 , 3047 (2022)..

Manda, S. et al. High-definition Visible-SWIR InGaAs Image Sensor using Cu-Cu Bonding of Ⅲ-Ⅴ to Silicon Wafer. In: 2019 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) . IEEE, pp 16.7.1-16.7.4 (2019).

Clifford, J. P. et al. Fast, sensitive and spectrally tuneable colloidal-quantum-dot photodetectors. Nat. Nanotechnol. 4 , 40–44 (2009)..

Klem E. J. D., Gregory C., Temple D., Lewis J. PbS colloidal quantum dot photodiodes for low-cost SWIR sensing. In: Andresen B. F., Fulop G. F., Hanson C. M., Norton P. R. (eds). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2178532 https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2178532 . SPIE, p 945104. (2015).

Lischke, S. et al. High bandwidth, high responsivity waveguide-coupled germanium p-i-n photodiode. Opt. Express 23 , 27213 (2015)..

López, M. et al. Spectral reflectance and responsivity of Ge- and InGaAs-photodiodes in the near-infrared: measurement and model. Appl Opt. 46 , 7337 (2007)..

Takenaka, M., Morii, K., Sugiyama, M., Nakano, Y. & Takagi, S. Dark current reduction of Ge photodetector by GeO_ 2 surface passivation and gas-phase doping. Opt. Express 20 , 8718 (2012)..

Zhao, X. et al. High p erformance p-i-n photodetectors on Ge-on-Insulator Platform. Nanomaterials 11 , 1125 (2021)..

Durlin, Q. et al. Fabrication and characterisation of the PiN Ge photodiode with poly-crystalline Si: P as n-type region. Opto-Electron. Rev. 31 . https://doi.org/10.24425/opelre.2023.144550 (2024)..

Raut, H. K., Ganesh, V. A., Nair, A. S. & Ramakrishna, S. Anti-reflective coatings: A critical, in-depth review. Energy Environ. Sci. 4 , 3779–3804 (2011)..

Oh, J., Yuan, H. C. & Branz, H. M. An 18.2%-efficient black-silicon solar cell achieved through control of carrier recombination in nanostructures. Nat. Nanotechnol. 7 , 743–748 (2012)..

Wu, F. et al. Suppression of surface and Auger recombination by formation and control of radial junction in silicon microwire solar cells. Nano Energy 58 , 817–824 (2019)..

Chroneos, A. & Bracht, H. Diffusion of n -type dopants in germanium. Appl Phys. Rev. 1 , 011301 (2014)..

Claeys C., Simoen E. Germanium-Based Technologies . Elsevier, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-044953-1.X5000-5 https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-044953-1.X5000-5 (2007)..

Pasanen, T. P. et al. Nanostructured Germanium with > 99% Absorption at 300–1600 nm Wavelengths. Adv. Opt. Mater. 8 , 2000047 (2020)..

Chen, K., Isometsä, J., Pasanen, T. P., Vähänissi, V. & Savin, H. Efficient photon capture on germanium surfaces using industrially feasible nanostructure formation. Nanotechnology 32 , 035301 (2021)..

Ingenito, A., Isabella, O. & Zeman, M. Experimental demonstration of 4 n 2 classical absorption limit in nanotextured ultrathin solar cells with dielectric omnidirectional back reflector. ACS Photonics 1 , 270–278 (2014)..

Isometsä, J. et al. Achieving surface recombination velocity below 10 cm/s in n-type germanium using ALD Al2O3. APL Mater. 9 . https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0071552/279689 (2021)..

Berghuis, W.J.H. et al. Excellent surface passivation of germanium by a-Si: H/Al 2 O 3 stacks. J Appl Phys 130 . https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0064808 (2021)..

Fung, T. H. et al. Efficient surface passivation of germanium nanostructures with 1% reflectance. Nanotechnology 34 , 355201 (2023)..

Liu, H. et al. Plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposited SiO 2 enables positive thin film charge and surface recombination velocity of 1.3 cm/s on germanium. Appl Phys Lett 122 . https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0152652 (2023)..

Geist, J., Liang, E. & Schaefer, A. R. Complete collection of minority carriers from the inversion layer in induced junction diodes. J. Appl Phys. 52 , 4879–4881 (1981)..

Booker, R. L. & Geist, J. Induced junction (inversion layer) photodiode self-calibration. Appl Opt. 23 , 1940 (1984)..

Juntunen, M. A. et al. Near-unity quantum efficiency of broadband black silicon photodiodes with an induced junction. Nat. Photonics 10 , 777–781 (2016)..

Hamamatsu infrared detectors. https://www.hamamatsu.com/content/dam/hamamatsu-photonics/sites/documents/99_SALES_LIBRARY/ssd/infrared_kird0001e.pdf https://www.hamamatsu.com/content/dam/hamamatsu-photonics/sites/documents/99_SALES_LIBRARY/ssd/infrared_kird0001e.pdf .

Thorlabs - FDG50 Ge Photodiode. https://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cfm?partnumber=FDG50 https://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cfm?partnumber=FDG50 (accessed 21 Nov2023).

Teledyne Judson Technology J16 Germanium Photodiodes. https://www.teledynejudson.com/prods/Documents/PB1600.pdf https://www.teledynejudson.com/prods/Documents/PB1600.pdf .

Berghuis, W. J. H. et al. Surface passivation of germanium by atomic layer deposited Al 2 O 3 nanolayers. J. Mater. Res 36 , 571–581 (2021)..

Martín, I. et al. Effect of the thickness of amorphous silicon carbide interlayer on the passivation of c-Ge surface by aluminium oxide films. Surf. Interfaces 31 , 102070 (2022)..

Chattopadhyay, S. et al. Anti-reflecting and photonic nanostructures. Mater. Sci. Eng.: R: Rep. 69 , 1–35 (2010)..

Huang, Y.-F. et al. Improved broadband and quasi-omnidirectional anti-reflection properties with biomimetic silicon nanostructures. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2 , 770–774 (2007)..

Bett, A. J. et al. Wave optical simulation of the light trapping properties of black silicon surface textures. Opt. Express 24 , A434 (2016)..

Setälä, O. E. et al. CMOS image sensor for broad spectral range with > 90% quantum efficiency. Small 19 , 2304001 (2023)..

Theocharous, E., Ishii, J. & Fox, N. P. A comparison of the performance of a photovoltaic HgCdTe detector with that of large area single pixel QWIPs for infrared radiometric applications. Infrared Phys. Technol. 46 , 309–322 (2005)..

Chen, K. et al. Harnessing carrier multiplication in silicon solar cells using UV photons. IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett. 33 , 1415–1418 (2021)..

Setälä, O. E. et al. Boron-implanted black silicon photodiode with Close-to-Ideal responsivity from 200 to 1000 nm. ACS Photonics 10 , 1735–1741 (2023)..

Garin, M. et al. Black-Silicon Ultraviolet photodiodes achieve external quantum efficiency above 130%. Phys. Rev. Lett. 125 , 117702 (2020)..

Vavilov V. S. Effects of Radiation on Semiconductors . Springer US:Boston, MA, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2720-0 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2720-0 (1965)..

Koc, S. The quantum efficiency of the photo-electric effect in germanium for the 0.3-2 μ wavelength region. Czech. J. Phys. 7 , 91–95 (1957)..

Christensen, O., Phys Lett, A. & Vavilov, S. Quantum efficiency of the internal photoelectric effect in silicon and germanium. J. Appl Phys. 47 , 689–695 (1976)..

Mack, I. et al. Quantifying the impact of Al deposition method on underlaying Al 2 O 3 /Si interface quality. Phys. Status Solidi (A) 220 , 2200653 (2023)..

Gong, X. et al. High-detectivity polymer photodetectors with spectral response from 300 nm to 1450 nm. Science 325 , 1665–1667 (2009)..

Bielecki, Z. et al. Review of photodetectors characterization methods. Bull. Pol. Acad. Sci. Tech. Sci. 70 , 140534–140534 (2022)..

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

No data

Related Author

No data

Related Institution

No data

⁰

Near-infrared germanium PIN-photodiodes with > 1A/W responsivity

DOI：10.1038/s41377-024-01670-4

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

references