High-speed low-energy photoconductive receiver with high gain

Merlin Welker; D. Zipperer; S. Malzer; Reiner Windisch; Paul L. Heremans; Gottfried H. Doehler

doi:10.1117/12.429395

12 June 2001 High-speed low-energy photoconductive receiver with high gain

Merlin Welker, D. Zipperer, S. Malzer, Reiner Windisch, Paul L. Heremans, Gottfried H. Doehler

Proceedings Volume 4288, Photodetectors: Materials and Devices VI; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.429395
Event: Symposium on Integrated Optics, 2001, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

We report on an optoelectronic receiver consisting of a special photoconductive n-i-p detector and a n-i-p reference diode fabricated from the same structure. The receiver is illuminated by two surface-normal light beams using a dual rail code. All applied DC biases are compatible with normal silicon CMOS logic, no AC biasing is required. The photoconductive gain of the receiver allows for output currents of more than 10 mA without any further amplification. The active device area of the smallest detectors has been scaled down to 120 micrometers ², resulting in a total optical switching energy for this receiver as low as 348 fJ. This optical switching energy is constant over a wide range of input power, resulting in fast switching times at sufficiently high input power while still retaining well-defined, but slower switching characteristics at lower input powers. Using input beams with 0.6 mW optical power at a wavelength of 787 nm, high speed measurements with a 3 dB frequency in excess of 400 MHz have been made. At these measurements a photoconductive gain of 6 times the p-i-n photocurrent was achieved, but using input powers of about 7 nW a gain in excess of 10⁶ has been demonstrated. Due to their simple design and biasing demands these photoconductive receivers are well suited for smart pixel applications and optical interconnects. For demonstration we present results for new a monolithically integrated smart pixel with a high-efficiency non-resonant cavity LED as emitter.

Citation Download Citation

Merlin Welker, D. Zipperer, S. Malzer, Reiner Windisch, Paul L. Heremans, and Gottfried H. Doehler "High-speed low-energy photoconductive receiver with high gain", Proc. SPIE 4288, Photodetectors: Materials and Devices VI, (12 June 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.429395

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