Polycrystalline-silicon integrated photoconductors for picosecond pulsing and gating

We describe an integrated high-speed photoconductor constructed from polycrystalline silicon using standard-integrated-circuit-fabrication techniques followed by photoresist-masked ion-beam irradiation. Optoelectronic correlation measurements have demonstrated the use of these photoconductive circuit elements (PCE's) as sampling gates with 3-dB measurement bandwidths of ∼100 GHz. Because of the virtual absence of noise and jitter, high-resolution sampling of small high-speed signals is possible. Also, undamaged polycrystalline-silicon-PCE pulsers have produced step pulses with amplitudes up to 1 V, risetimes of <6 ps, and pulse lengths of ∼50 ps.