Design of Subwavelength CMOS Compatible Plasmonic Photodetector for Nano-Electronic-Photonic Integrated Circuits

We propose a technique to design a nanoscaled Ge photodetector that integrates with a subwavelength plasmonic waveguide. The photodetector is designed to effectively receive the electromagnetic waves from the waveguide via a resonant antenna, and to enhance the power absorption by Ge via a Fabry-Perot resonator. Simulation results show that 25.9% of the optical power from the waveguide can be absorbed by the photodetector with an active volume of 0.0032 μm³, and a responsivity of 0.049 A/W for a wavelength of 1550 nm and 3-dB bandwidth of 0.27 THz. The proposed photodetector with Si-CMOS compatible materials and ultra-compact dimensions can be applied to future chip-scale nano-electronic-photonic integrated circuits.