Designing silicon-germanium photodetectors with numerical optimization: the tradeoffs and limits

Abstract

We initially developed an efficient solver to study photodetectors composed of multiple semiconductor layers with varying thicknesses and doping concentrations. Subsequently, we employed it as the forward solver for three different numerical optimization methods aimed at designing Si-Ge photodetectors with larger bandwidth, higher quantum efficiency, and lower phase noise. Our work offers new insights into the design of high-performance photodetectors—a challenging task due to computation time, design constraints, and the complexity of estimating sensitivity to design parameters.

Optimal design of graphene-based plasmonic enhanced photodetector using PSO

“…Most of the photodetectors used in silicon photonics are germanium-based 10 – 12 , but this type of photodetector has limitations in integrating with CMOS technology 13 , 14 . Currently, various materials are used in the manufacture of photodetectors, including silicon-based photodetectors 15 – 22 , gallium arsenide-based photodetectors 23 – 26 , aluminum gallium nitride-based photodetectors 11 , 17 , 27 , indium gallium arsenide-based photodetectors 28 , 29 , indium arsenide-based photodetectors 30 , and photodetectors based on a combination of different materials 31 are among these cases. However silicon-based photodetectors are of double importance due to their compatibility with CMOS technology 32 .…”