Systematic Electro-Optical Study of Photodiodes in Intrinsic Material (Lowly Doped) with Backend Stack Optimization

Abstract

This paper constitutes the analysis of the impact of low doped intrinsic p-type EPI thickness (20 µm and 30 µm) and bottom anti-reflective coating on the electrical and optical performance of various PIN photodiodes designs. The intrinsic p-type layer with a target resistivity of 400 Ω cm is an epitaxial layer (iEPI) grown on a low resistive substrate of 20 mΩ cm. Optimization of the photodiode’s spectral responsivity (for a specific wavelength) includes a Bottom Anti-Reflective Coating (BARC) layer deposited over the silicon surface. BARC thickness is optimized for λ = 425 nm, λ = 750 nm and λ = 900 nm wavelengths. With respective BARC in place, the photodiode’s quantum efficiency (QE) approaches 100% for λ = 750 nm with 20 µm and 30 µm iEPI thickness and for λ = 900 nm with 30 µm iEPI reaching also a maximum spectral response of 0.63 A/W at 800 nm. QE of 72% could be achieved at 425 nm. The leakage current varies from 3.5 pA for 20 µm iEPI thickness to 10 pA for 30 µm at 1 V reverse biasing for 365 µm circular PIN photodiode.

ams’ Technology Concepts on Monolithically Integrated Photosensors

“…Thus full functionality of the standard CMOS logic can be guaranteed while the photo detectors highly benefit from the low doping concentrations of the intrinsic EPI. The major advantage of our integration concept is that complete modularity of the CMOS process remains untouched by the implementation of PIN photodiodes [4,5].…”