Ge-on-Si vertical incidence photodiodes with 39-GHz bandwidth

Vertical-incidence Germanium photodiodes grown on thin strain-relaxed buffers on Silicon substrates are reported. For a mesa-type detector with a diameter of 10 μm, a resistance-capacitance-limited 3-dB bandwidth of 25.1 GHz at an incident wavelength of 1552 nm and zero external bias has been measured. At a reverse bias of 2 V, the bandwidth is 38.9 GHz. The detector comprises a 300-nm-thick intrinsic region, and thus, has the potential for easy integration with Si circuitry and exhibits zero bias external quantum efficiencies of 23%, 16%, and 2.8% at 850, 1298, and 1552 nm, respectively.