Photon-trapping microstructures enable high-speed high-efficiency silicon photodiodes

High-speed, high-efficiency photodetectors play an important role in optical communication links that are increasingly being used in data centres to handle higher volumes of data traffic and higher bandwidths, as big data and cloud computing continue to grow exponentially. Monolithic integration of optical components with signal-processing electronics on a single silicon chip is of paramount importance in the drive to reduce cost and improve performance. We report the first demonstration of microand nanoscale holes enabling light trapping in a silicon photodiode, which exhibits an ultrafast impulse response (full-width at half-maximum) of 30 ps and a high efficiency of more than 50%, for use in data-centre optical communications. The photodiode uses microand nanostructured holes to enhance, by an order of magnitude, the absorption efficiency of a thin intrinsic layer of less than 2 μm thickness and is designed for a data rate of 20 gigabits per second or higher at a wavelength of 850 nm. Further optimization can improve the efficiency to more than 70%.