Avalanche photodiode structure
11508868 · 2022-11-22
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
H01L31/028
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/1075
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/02327
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/1804
ELECTRICITY
International classification
H01L31/10
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/107
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/0232
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/028
ELECTRICITY
H01L31/18
ELECTRICITY
Abstract
A germanium based avalanche photo-diode device and method of manufacture thereof. The device including: a silicon substrate; a lower doped silicon region, positioned above the substrate; a silicon multiplication region, positioned above the lower doped silicon region; an intermediate doped silicon region, positioned above the silicon multiplication region; an un-doped germanium absorption region, position above the intermediate doped silicon region; an upper doped germanium region, positioned above the un-doped germanium absorption region; and an input silicon waveguide; wherein: the un-doped germanium absorption region and the upper doped germanium region form a germanium waveguide which is coupled to the input waveguide, and the device also includes a first electrode and a second electrode, and the first electrode extends laterally to contact the lower doped silicon region and the second electrode extends laterally to contact the upper doped germanium region.
Claims
1. A germanium based avalanche photodiode device, the germanium based avalanche photodiode device including: a silicon substrate; a lower doped silicon region, positioned above the silicon substrate; a silicon multiplication region, positioned above the lower doped silicon region; an intermediate doped silicon region, positioned above the silicon multiplication region; an un-doped germanium absorption region, positioned above the intermediate doped silicon region; an upper doped germanium region, positioned above the un-doped germanium absorption region; and an input silicon waveguide, wherein: the un-doped germanium absorption region and the upper doped germanium region form a germanium waveguide which is coupled to the input silicon waveguide, the germanium based avalanche photodiode device also includes a first electrode and a second electrode, and the first electrode extends laterally to contact the lower doped silicon region and the second electrode extends laterally to contact the upper doped germanium region, and one or more of the silicon multiplication region, the germanium waveguide, and the intermediate doped silicon region are at least partially within a cavity of a silicon-on-insulator layer of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer.
2. The germanium based avalanche photodiode device of claim 1, wherein the lower doped silicon region includes a part which extends away from the silicon substrate so as to contact the first electrode.
3. The germanium based avalanche photodiode device of claim 1, wherein the upper doped germanium region includes a part which extends towards the silicon substrate so as to contact the second electrode.
4. The germanium based avalanche photodiode device of claim 1, wherein the input silicon waveguide and germanium waveguide are rib waveguides.
5. The germanium based avalanche photodiode device of claim 1, wherein the germanium waveguide has a first lateral edge, and the lower doped silicon region is coterminous in lateral extension with the first lateral edge of the germanium waveguide.
6. The germanium based avalanche photodiode device of claim 1, wherein the germanium waveguide has a first lateral edge, and the lower doped silicon region extends laterally beyond the first lateral edge of the germanium waveguide.
7. The germanium based avalanche photodiode device of claim 1, wherein the multiplication silicon region, the germanium waveguide, and the intermediate doped silicon region are within the cavity of the silicon-on-insulator layer.
8. The germanium based avalanche photodiode device of claim 1, wherein the multiplication silicon region is between 50 nm and 150 nm thick.
9. The germanium based avalanche photodiode device of claim 1, wherein the upper doped germanium region and the lower doped silicon region are heavily doped as compared to the intermediate doped silicon region.
10. The germanium based avalanche photodiode device of claim 1, wherein the intermediate doped silicon region is doped with dopants of a same species as the upper doped germanium region.
11. A method of fabricating the germanium based avalanche photodiode device of claim 1, comprising: providing the silicon substrate and an insulator layer, above which is a silicon-on-insulator layer; etching the silicon-on-insulator layer and the insulator layer, to form a cavity of the silicon-on-insulator layer which extends to the silicon substrate; epitaxially growing a first silicon layer from a bed of the cavity; doping the first silicon layer to form the lower doped silicon region; growing a second silicon layer from an upper surface of the lower doped silicon region; doping a first part of the second silicon layer to form the intermediate doped silicon region; epitaxially growing a germanium layer from an upper surface of the second silicon layer to form the germanium waveguide; doping a part of the germanium layer to form the upper doped germanium region; and providing the first electrode and the second electrode, the first electrode contacting the lower doped silicon region and the second electrode contacting the upper doped germanium region.
12. The method of claim 11, further including a step of: after etching the silicon-on-insulator layer and the insulator layer and before epitaxially growing the first silicon layer: disposing an insulating layer along sidewalls and the bed of the cavity.
13. The method of claim 12, including the step of: etching the insulating layer which is along the bed of the cavity, thereby leaving an insulating layer along the sidewalls of the cavity.
14. The method of claim 11, including the step of doping a region of the first silicon layer.
15. The method of claim 11, including the step of in-situ doping the first silicon layer during the step of epitaxially growing the first silicon layer.
16. The method of claim 11, including the step of: etching a part of the germanium layer, to thereby provide a rib waveguide having one or more slab regions.
17. The method of claim 11, including the step of: before the doping of the part of the germanium layer: disposing a photoresist over a part of an upper most surface of the partially fabricated germanium based avalanche photodiode device; and after doping the part of the germanium layer: removing the photoresist.
18. The method of claim 12, further including a step of: annealing the partially fabricated germanium based avalanche photodiode device.
19. The method of claim 12, further including a step of: disposing a cladding layer over the partially fabricated germanium based avalanche photodiode device.
20. A germanium based avalanche photodiode device, the germanium based avalanche photodiode device including: a silicon substrate; a lower doped silicon region, positioned above the silicon substrate; a silicon multiplication region, positioned above the lower doped silicon region; an intermediate doped silicon region, positioned above the silicon multiplication region; an un-doped germanium absorption region, positioned above the intermediate doped silicon region; an upper doped germanium region, positioned above the un-doped germanium absorption region; and an input silicon waveguide, wherein: the un-doped germanium absorption region and the upper doped germanium region form a germanium waveguide which is coupled to the input silicon waveguide, the germanium based avalanche photodiode device also includes a first electrode and a second electrode, and the first electrode extends laterally to contact the lower doped silicon region and the second electrode extends laterally to contact the upper doped germanium region, and one or more of the lower doped silicon region and the silicon multiplication region are at least partially within a cavity of a buried oxide (BOX) layer of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION AND FURTHER OPTIONAL FEATURES
(11)
(12) The device in
(13) In use, a reverse bias voltage can be applied to electrodes 104 and 106. This produces an electric field passing from N+ doped region 102, through the intermediate waveguide 110, and into P+ doped region 108. Thus, as light passes through interface 112, it enters germanium waveguide where it is absorbed to generate electron-hole pairs, which are separated by the electric field in the waveguide. The holes go to the P+ doped region 108 and the electrons go to the N+ doped region 102 after accelerated by the high electrical field in the multiplication region (not shown in
(14)
(15) Immediately above the N+ doped region 210 is an undoped (or intrinsic) multiplication region 206. In this example the multiplication region is 100 nm in thickness (as measured from the top of the N+ doped region to an uppermost surface of the multiplication region). The multiplication region may be formed of silicon, and should have a doping of no more than 1×10.sup.16 cm.sup.−3. Immediately above multiplication region 206 is a P doped region 204. This P doped region may be referred to as a charge layer, as it may be used to keep the electric field across the absorption germanium of the avalanche photodiode low, such that only the multiplication region 206 experiences large electric field (i.e. such that it might allow avalanche multiplication). The P doped region in this example is 50 nm in thickness (as measured from the top of the multiplication layer to an uppermost surface of the P doped region). In this example, the doping concentration in the P doped layer is around 2×10.sup.18 cm.sup.−3.
(16) Immediately above the P doped region 204 is a germanium waveguide 110. The germanium waveguide in this example is a rib waveguide, having one or more slabs. The slabs in this example are approximately 300 nm in thickness (including the P+ doped region 120), and the rib may be 300 nm in thickness (as measured from the top of the P+108 doped region to the uppermost surface of the P+ doped slab region 120). As with the multiplication region, the germanium waveguide is not intentionally doped and therefore the doping concentration should be less than 1×10.sup.16 cm.sup.−3. The region of the germanium waveguide adjacent to the silicon waveguide 116 may have a height of 400 nm as measured from the top of the P doped region 204.
(17) As is shown in
(18) Immediately above the rib of the germanium waveguide 110 is a P+ doped region 108, which is connected to the P+ doped region of the slab 120 via a portion of the P+ doped region 108 which extends towards the substrate. The P+ doped region in this example is 200 nm in thickness (as measured from the top of the rib to an uppermost surface of the P+ doped region). The doping in this example is at least 1×10.sup.19 cm.sup.−3. A part 120 of P+ doped region extends in a lateral direction 154 away from the germanium waveguide, to allow the second electrode 106 to electrically contact it.
(19) The device is generally covered by a SiO2 cladding layer 202. However, via openings are fabricated in the cladding layer for the first electrode 104 and second electrode 106. This allows the electrodes to contact respective parts of the N+ and P+ doped regions 102 and 120.
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(23) A method of manufacturing the above devices is now discussed in relation to
(24) Therefore, starting from
(25) An etching step is then performed as shown in
(26) After etching, a liner may be disposed within the cavity 606, to thereby line the cavity sidewalls 610 and cavity bed. The liner may be provided as a 20 nm thick SiO.sub.2 layer.
(27) Subsequent to the liner being disposed, a further cover layer 608 is disposed on top of the liner as shown in
(28) A silicon layer 614 is then epitaxially grown from the bed of the cavity 606 from the substrate 212, as shown in
(29) As shown in
(30) In a subsequent step, shown in
(31) The result of this further doping is shown in
(32) Next, a third photoresist 631 is disposed over the device, leaving an implantation window 637 above a region of the further silicon layer 624, as shown in
(33) After doping is completed, the device may be annealed at 1050-1100° C. for 5-10 seconds to activate the dopants as shown in
(34) In a further step, germanium 636 is epitaxially grown into the cavity 606 as shown in
(35) A mask layer 656 is then disposed over the germanium, as well as the regions of the silicon-on-insulator layer which are not within the cavity 606. A photoresist 640 is then disposed over the mask layer to pattern the waveguides in both the germanium and the SOI, therefore, the germanium waveguide and the silicon waveguide are self-aligned and may be formed by a single step of etching process. The result after the etching is shown in
(36) Further etching then takes place after a photolithographic process to define the waveguide which is covered by photoresist PR, to make the rib 648 and the lateral extension of slabs 642, 644 and 650. The etching also exposes N+ doped region 102 for connection to the electrode. The result of this further etching is shown in
(37) Next, a thin layer of SiO.sub.2 202 is disposed over the device, having a thickness of between 20-50 nm, and a photoresist 658 then disposed over a portion of the device to define the P+ region as shown in
(38) The photoresist is then removed, and a thick layer of SiO.sub.2 (about 500 nm) is deposited followed by an annealing process with a temperature 600-630° C. for 5 to 10 seconds to activate the dopant Boron. Notably, the dopants will also produce a doped region 662 in the rear-most slab 650. This is shown in
(39) After opening via, a final metallization step is performed, illustrated in
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(43) While the invention has been described in conjunction with the exemplary embodiments described above, many equivalent modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art when given this disclosure. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments of the invention set forth above are considered to be illustrative and not limiting. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
LIST OF FEATURES
(44) 100 Avalanche photodiode 102 N+ doped region extending to reach electrode 104 First electrode 106 Second electrode 906 Second electrode 108 Upper P+ doped region 808 Upper P+ doped region 110 Germanium rib waveguide 112 Germanium rib waveguide/silicon taper waveguide interface 114 Input waveguide 116 Tapered region of the input waveguide 118 Input light 120 P+ doped region extending to contact electrode 150 Vertical direction (into the plane of the device) 152 First transversal direction 154 Second transversal direction 202 Cladding layer 204 Intermediate P doped region 206 Multiplication region 208 Buried oxide layer 210 Lower N+ doped region 212 Substrate 220 Silicon slab 302 Lower N+ doped region 404 Intermediate N doped region 408 Upper N+ doped region 410 Lower P+ doped region 414 P+ doped region extending to reach electrode 510 Lower P+ doped region 514 P+ doped region extending to reach electrode 602 Silicon-on-insulator layer 606 Cavity 604 Hard mask 608 Cover layer 610 Lined cavity sidewall 612 Cavity bed 614 Epitaxially grown silicon layer 616 Dopants 618 Photoresist 620 Lower N+ doped region 622 Undoped epitaxially grown silicon region 624 Further epitaxially grown silicon layer 626 Dopants 628 Second photoresist 629 Implantation window in photoresist 631 Third photoresist 632 Undoped multiplication region 634 Intermediate P doped region 636 Epitaxially grown germanium layer 637 Implantation window in third photoresist 638 Planarized germanium layer 640 Fourth photoresist 642 First germanium waveguide slab 644 Second germanium waveguide slab 648 Germanium waveguide rib 650 Third germanium waveguide slab 652 Fifth photoresist 654 Exposed N+ doped region 656 Mask layer 658 Sixth photoresist 660 Dopants 702 N+ doped region extending across the width of the cavity