Basic Components of Integrated Photonic Circuit
What Is an Optical Ring Resonator?
Like optical filters, optical ring resonators are waveguide
structures that allow only a narrow band of frequency. They can
also be used to couple two optical waveguides in opposite
directions. A typical optical ring resonator has two parts:
1.A straight waveguide
2.A ring waveguide
The waveguide cores are placed close together and light waves
are coupled from one waveguide to the other.
In an optical ring resonator, light propagates around the loop
and remains in the waveguides because of total internal
reflection (TIR), a phenomenon in which light rays do not
refract through the boundary of the medium they strike.
Since only a few wavelengths reach resonance within these
loops, optical ring resonators are used as filters. The
transmission loss of the resonator’s coupler balances the loss for
the propagating wave, which is ideal for notch filters especially.
Structures of Waveguide Integrated Photodetectors
Timeline of waveguide-integrated photodetectors
Integrated PbS Colloidal Quantum Dot Photodiodes on Silicon Nitride Waveguides
ACS Photonics 2023, 10, 12, 4215–4224
• Integration of photodiodes (PDs) based on PbS QDs on silicon nitride
waveguides (WG) is demonstrated
• Initially, a conventional standlone PbS QDs (2 Layer) based
Photodiode is fabricated and tested.
• P-i-n Device architecture – Au/ZnO/PbS-PbI2 QDs/PbS-EDT QDs/ Au
Waveguide Integrated QD-based PD
• Later the device is integrated with a SiN waveguide and tested.
Material Function Deposition Technique
Au Electrode Thermal Evaporation
ZnO ETL ALD
PbS-PbI2 Intrinsic Layer Spin Coat
PbS-EDT P-type layer Spin Coat
SiN Waveguide PECVD for Deposition |
EBL for Patterning
Device schematic and testing of standalone PbS QDPD on Glass
Substrate
Figure 1. (a) Device structure of the standalone QDPD.
(b) Absorption spectra for both types of QDs used in the BI-QPDD, dispersed in n-octane. QDs with the exciton
peak around 1300 nm were used for absorption, and QDs around 950 nm were used as hole-transport and electron-
blocking materials.
(c) Dark current and photocurrent of BI-QDPD with an area of 1.77 mm 2.
(d) EQE of QDPD vs optical power density at a bias voltage of −1 V. The intersection of the dashed lines indicates
the onset of saturation. Inset: photocurrent vs optical maximum power density.
Device Fabrication scheme of Waveguide Integrated PbS QDPD
Figure 3. Processing steps to fabricate WG-QDPD. (a) SiN waveguide patterning and top cladding deposition. (b) ALD of the
ZnO electron transport layer and Al2O3 protection layer. (c) N-contact metal patterning with photoresist and liftoff. (d) QD film
patterning with PMMA resist and liftoff. The Al2O3 protection layer was removed before spin-coating QDs. (e) P-contact metal
patterning with PMMA resist and liftoff. (f) Top view of the fabricated WG-QDPD.
Device schematic waveguide integrated-PbS QDPD and device simulation results
Figure 2. Design of WG-QDPD. (a) Device structure of WG-
QDPD.
(b) Link between saturation of standalone-QDPD and WG-
QDPD. Red arrows point out the light propagation direction,
vertical for the standalone-QDPD and horizontal for the WG-
QDPD. The electrons and holes are extracted in the vertical
direction for both cases. The PbS-PbI2 absorption layer can be
split into small cells. The total carrier generation rate in each
cell determines its local saturation. The cell with the maximum
total carrier generation rate (indicated by a blue arrow)
determines the onset of saturation for the whole PD.
(c) Simulated saturation power of WG-QDPD vs cladding
thickness and waveguide width. (d) Slice of (c) for a waveguide
width of 30 μm. (e) Slice of (c) for a cladding thickness of 0.35
μm.
Performance of waveguide integrated-PbS QDP
Impact of SiN Waveguide width (3-30
microns) and thickness (<400 nm) on
Photodetector saturation is studied
The developed Waveguide integrated – PbS QDPD is attached to the output channels of a arrayed waveguide grating
(AWG). AWG is the main component of a on-chip spectrometer.
Outcomes of the Work
• for the first time PbS QDPDs integrated on SiN waveguides using standard process techniques is
demonstrated .
• Based on the characterization of planar QDPDs, it is seen that the high optical intensity resulting from the
strong optical confinement in waveguides could induce saturation of a WG-QDPD at low optical power.
• this issue was overcame through a design in which the WG-QDPD overlap is coupled to the evanescent field,
while using the cladding thickness and the waveguide as adjustable parameters to raise the saturation power
by reducing the overlap with the evanescent field.
• In particular, a 30 μm wide device with a 350 nm cladding layer can exhibit a responsivity of 0.69 A/W and a
linear response of up to 400 nW for 1275 nm light at a −1 V reverse bias.
• To further demonstrate the scalability of the integration approach proposed here, also designed and tested a
compact 8-channel spectrometer integrated with an array of WG-QDPDs. This spectrometer showed a clear
wavelength-dependent response with a channel crosstalk of 15 dB.
