Patent ID: 7136544

Claim:
An optoelectronic device on a substrate comprising a strip loaded waveguide and a lateral PN diode, where the strip loaded waveguide comprises: a slab of monocrystalline silicon disposed on the substrate, a layer of dielectric on the slab of monocrystalline silicon, and a strip of silicon material disposed on the layer of dielectric, and the lateral PN diode comprises: first and second doped regions formed in the slab of silicon, where the second doped region is oppositely charged to the first doped region, and first and second electrical contacts formed in the respective first and second doped regions in the slab of silicon, where a PN junction is formed at the boundary of the first and second doped regions, and a depletion region at the PN junction is substantially in the center of a guided optical mode propagating through the waveguide.