Si⁺-implanted Si-wire waveguide photodetectors for the mid-infrared

CMOS-compatible Si+-implanted Si-waveguide p-i-n photodetectors operating at room temperature and at mid-infrared wavelengths from 2.2 to 2.3 μm are demonstrated. Responsivities of 9.9 ± 2.0 mA/W are measured at a 5 V reverse bias with an estimated internal quantum efficiency of 2.7 - 4.5%. The dark current is found to vary from a few microamps down to less than a nanoamp after a post-implantation annealing of 350°C. The measured photocurrent dependence on input power shows a linear correspondence over more than three decades, and the frequency response of a 250 μm-length p-i-n device is measured to be ∼1.7 GHz for a wavelength of λ = 2.2 μm, thus potentially opening up new communication bands for photonic integrated circuits.