Novel epitaxial silicon interlayer for junction engineering in aggressively-scaled germanium photodetectors

Abstract

A new technique which uses an ultra-thin silicon interlayer in germanium photodetectors for junction engineering is demonstrated. A 5 nm epitaxially grown silicon layer was effective in preventing phosphorus diffusion into bulk Ge at 625 °C. Abrupt junction profile was achieved in thin 250 nm Ge PDs which led to improved bandwidth performance during low voltage operations (at 1V or less). © 2013 © 2013 Author(s).