Patent ID: 9530905
Filing Date: 2016-12-27
CPC Classification: G02B,H01L,H04B,Y02E,Y02P

Claim Text:
1. A microstructure-enhanced germanium-on-silicon avalanche photodetector for operation with an incident optical source signal at a wavelength range that includes 1550 nanometers, comprising: a germanium P-layer; a germanium photon-absorbing I-layer under the germanium P-layer, said germanium photo-absorbing I-layer comprising a substantially continuous layer interrupted by a plurality of intentionally formed holes therein and configured to receive, concurrently at a plural number of the holes, an incident optical source signal that is substantially continuous in cross-section; a silicon charge P-layer under the germanium I-layer; a silicon avalanche I-layer under the silicon charge P-layer; a silicon N-layer under the silicon avalanche I-layer; and a substrate under the silicon N-region; said avalanche photodetector being configured to operate at quantum efficiency greater than 80% when receiving said incident optical source signal at a wavelength range that includes 1550 nanometers at bandwidth of at least 5 Gigabits per second, and to provide an electrical photodetector output as a function of the incident source signal when reverse-biased.