In this paper, we demonstrate high optical quantum efficiency (90%) resonant-cavity-enhanced mid-infrared photodetectors fabricated monolithically on a silicon platform. High quality photoconductive polycrystalline PbTe film is thermally evaporated, oxygen-sensitized at room temperature and acts as the infrared absorber. The cavity-enhanced detector operates in the critical coupling regime and shows a peak responsivity of 100 V/W at the resonant wavelength of 3.5 μm, 13.4 times higher compared to blanket PbTe film of the same thickness. Detectivity as high as 0.72 × 10⁹cmHz^1/2W¹ has been measured, comparable with commercial polycrystalline mid-infrared photodetectors. As low temperature processing (< 160 °C) is implemented in the entire fabrication process, our detector is promising for monolithic integration with Si readout integrated circuits.

Date Published: 16 May 2011
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 8034, Photonic Microdevices/Microstructures for Sensing III, 80340K (16 May 2011); doi: 10.1117/12.884081

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8034:
Photonic Microdevices/Microstructures for Sensing III
Hai Xiao; Xudong Fan; Anbo Wang, Editor(s)