Numerical design and optoelectronic simulation of a germanium-on-silicon PIN photodetector for high-speed optical communication systems
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58524/aj9sjj17Keywords:
Bandwidth, Germanium-on-Silicon Photodetector, High-Speed Optical Communication, PIN Photodiode, Silicon PhotonicsAbstract
Background: The rising demand for fast optical communication systems in the telecommunications industry, data centers, aerospace, and defense applications has made it imperative to design photodetectors with high responsivity, minimum dark current, and broad bandwidth. Germanium on Silicon (Ge-on-Si) PIN photodetectors are potential contenders in this regard due to their high optical absorption capability at the telecommunication wavelengths as well as CMOS silicon photonics compatibility. Optimizing their optoelectronic performance is an important issue, however.
Aims: In this research, we intend to numerically design, optimize, and evaluate a Ge-on-Si PIN photodetector via a coupled optoelectronic simulation technique for high optical absorption, high responsivity, low dark current, and high speed operation in advanced optical communication systems.
Method: The designed photodetector was modeled and simulated by using Lumerical FDTD Solutions and Lumerical DEVICE software. A combined simulation method of optical-electrical was utilized to simulate optical field distribution, optical absorption, carrier generation, photocurrent, dark current, and 3dB-bandwidth of the device. Structural parameters were carefully optimized to enhance the performance of the device for telecommunication operation.
Result: The optimized Ge-on-Si PIN photodetector resulted in the optical absorption of about 92% at 1550 nm wavelength, peak responsivity of 0.84 A/W, and the minimum value of the dark current was 0.9 μA at reverse bias voltage V. The calculated 3-dB bandwidth was 45 GHz. The increase in dark current with temperature due to the generation of carriers from thermal energy was also observed through simulations.
Conclusion: The designed Ge-on-Si PIN detector offers a well-balanced structure, providing excellent responsivity, low dark current, and large bandwidth, which makes it a very promising device for silicon photonics and high-speed optical communication in the future. Besides, there is a great possibility to apply this detector for defense and aerospace applications such as optical communication for military and satellites and other systems requiring high-performance optical connections.
References
Agrawal, G. P. (2021). Fiber-Optic Communication Systems, 5th ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Beckerwerth, T., Runge, P., & Schell, M. (2024). High-speed photodiodes for power efficient data transmission. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 42(3), 1056-1061. https://doi.org/10.1109/JLT.2023.3322467
Benedikovič, D. (2023). Advances in chip-integrated silicon-germanium photodetectors, Photodetectors (Second Edition). Woodhead Publishing Series in Electronic and Optical Materials. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102795-0.00007-4
Benedikovič, D., Virot, L., Aubin, G., Hartmann, J., Amar, F., Roux, X. L., Alonso-Ramos, C., Cassan, E., Marris-Morini, D., Fédéli, J., Boeuf, F., Szelag, B., & Vivien, L. (2020). Silicon–germanium receivers for short-wave infrared optoelectronics. Nanophotonics, 10(3), 1059-1079. https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2020-0547
Campbell, J. C. (2008). Recent advances in avalanche photodiodes. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 25(1), 109–121. https://doi.org/10.1109/JLT.2006.888912
Chen, G., Yu, Y., Shi, Y., Li, N., Luo, W., Cao, L., Danner, A. J., Liu, A., & Zhang, X. (2022). High-speed photodetectors on silicon photonics platforms. Laser & Photonics Reviews, 16, 2200117. https://doi.org/10.1002/lpor.202200117
Chen, Q., Zhang, X., Sharawi, M. S., & Kashyap, R. (2024). Advances in high–speed, high–power photodiodes: from fundamentals to applications. Applied Sciences, 14(8), 3410. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14083410
He, Y., Peng, H., Cao, P., Wang, Z., Wei, J., Song, C., Zheng, W., & Zhuang, Q. (2026). Recent progress in silicon-based on-chip integrated infrared photodetectors. Sensors, 26(4), 1125. https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/26/4/1125
Ishikawa, Y., Osaka, J., & Wada, K. (2009). Germanium photodetectors in silicon photonics. IEEE LEOS Annual Meeting Conference Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1109/LEOS.2009.5343099
Ke, X. (2024). Detectors and their noise models, Handbook of Optical Wireless Communication. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-1522-0_6
Keiser, G. (2021). Optical fiber communications. Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4665-9
Khanna, V. K. (2004). Carrier lifetimes and recombination–generation mechanisms in semiconductor device physics. European Journal of Physics, 25(2), 221. https://doi.org/10.1088/0143-0807/25/2/009
Li, H., Zhang, S., Zhang, Z., Zuo, S., Zhang, S., Sun, Y., Zhao, D., & Zhang, Z. (2020). Silicon waveguide integrated with germanium photodetector for a photonic-integrated fbg interrogator. Nanomaterials, 10(9), 1683. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10091683
Michel, J., Liu, J., & Kimerling, L. C. (2010). High-performance Ge-on-Si photodetectors. Nature Photonics, 4, 527–534. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2010.157
Na, N., Chen, E., Bullerb, G. S., Hadfield, R. H., & Sorefd, R. A. (2026). Review of germanium-silicon single-photon avalanche diodes [Preprint]. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3056028
Niu, Y. & Poon, A. W. (2025). Broadband sub-bandgap linear photodetection in Ge+-implanted silicon waveguide photodiode monitors. Advanced Photonics, 7(6), 066005. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.AP.7.6.066005
Radovanović, S., Annema, A., & Nauta, B. (2006). High-speed photodiodes in standard cmos technology, The Springer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science. Springer.
Reed, G. T., Mashanovich, G., Gardes, F. Y., & Thomson, D. J. (2010). Silicon optical modulators. Nature Photonics, 4, 518–526. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2010.179
Rogalski, A. (2011). Infrared Detectors, 2nd ed. CRC Press.
Saleh, B. E. A. & Teich, M. C. (2019). Fundamental of photonics, 3rd ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Senior, J. M. & Jamro, M. Y. (2020). Optical Fiber Communications: Principles and Practice, 4th ed. Pearson.
Sze, S. M. & Ng, K. K. (2007). Physics of Semiconductor Devices, 3rd ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Thomson, D. J. Zilkie, A., Bowers, J. E., Komljenovic, T., Reed, G. T., Vivien, L., Marris-Morini, D., Cassan, E., Virot, L., Fédéli, J., Hartmann, J., Schmid, J. H., Xu, D., Boeuf, F., O’Brien, P., Mashanovich, G. Z., & Nedeljkovic, M. (2016). Roadmap on silicon photonics. Journal of Optics, 18(7), 073003. https://doi.org/10.1088/2040-8978/18/7/073003
Wang, B. & Mu, J. (2022). High-speed Si–Ge avalanche photodiodes. PhotoniX, 3(8), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43074-022-00052-6
Wang, J. & Lee, S. (2011). Ge-photodetectors for Si-based optoelectronic integration. Sensors, 11(1), 696–718. https://doi.org/10.3390/s110100696
Yan, T., Li, L., Zhang, Y., Hao, J., Meng, J., & Shi, N. (2024). High-performance Ge photodetectors on silicon photonics platform for optical interconnect. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 376, 115535. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sna.2024.115535
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Ashenafi Abera Gebre, Kedir Botamo Adem
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
