10 Gb/s Error-Free Operation of All-Silicon Ion-Implanted-Waveguide Photodiodes at 1.55 $\mu{\rm m}$

The error-free operation of an all-Si ion-implanted CMOS-compatible waveguide p-i-n photodiode (PD) is experimentally demonstrated at 1.55 μm with 2.5 and 10 Gb/s data rates. Detector sensitivity as a function of bias voltage is measured for PDs of two different lengths, 250 μm and 3 mm. The photocurrent increase caused by bringing the PD into a highly absorbing state via forward biasing is also measured, and it is shown that a resulting 15 dB improvement in receiver sensitivity can be expected. The limiting factors of the device frequency response are analyzed, and the measured PDs are shown to have comparable dark currents, responsivities, and sensitivities to reported Ge PDs.