Granted Patent B2

US 12,660,332 · App. 18/005,683 · Granted Jun 16, 2026

Inventors: Xiao Hu (Wuhan, CN); Xi Xiao (Wuhan, CN); Daigao Chen (Wuhan, CN); Lei Wang (Wuhan, CN); Yuguang Zhang (Wuhan, CN); Miaofeng Li (Wuhan, CN)

Assignee: Wuhan Optical Valley Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center Co., Ltd.

H10F30/225H10F71/121H10F77/122H10F77/206H10F77/413

Abstract

Claims (23)

1 . A laterally structured avalanche photodetector, comprising:

a substrate, comprising a first semiconductor material region in which an avalanche region of the avalanche photodetector is formed;

a first epitaxial growth layer, formed on the substrate with a second semiconductor material different from a first semiconductor material, and formed as an absorption region of the avalanche photodetector, and having an upper surface used as an optical absorption surface which is protruded from an upper surface of the first semiconductor material region, and a lower surface lower than the upper surface of the first semiconductor material region, and the absorption region and the avalanche region being arranged at an interval along a first direction parallel to a substrate plane; and

a second epitaxial growth layer, formed on the substrate with the first semiconductor material, and comprising at least a first part and a second part which are located at two sides of the first epitaxial growth layer along the first direction, and cover two sidewalls of the first epitaxial growth layer protruding above the first semiconductor material region respectively, and are formed as at least a part of a first charge region and at least a part of a second charge region respectively,

the first charge region, the absorption region, the second charge region and the avalanche region at least partially overlapping in the first direction.

2 . The laterally structured avalanche photodetector of claim 1 , wherein

the substrate is a silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate, and the first semiconductor material region is an area where a top silicon layer of the SOI substrate is located;

the lower surface of the first epitaxial growth layer lower than the upper surface of the first semiconductor material region, specifically comprises that a bottom end of the first epitaxial growth layer is embedded in the top silicon layer.

3 . The laterally structured avalanche photodetector of claim 2 , wherein the first semiconductor material is silicon, and the second semiconductor material is germanium.

4 . The laterally structured avalanche photodetector of claim 1 , wherein the second epitaxial growth layer is located between the first semiconductor material region and the first epitaxial growth layer, and has one side contacted with the first semiconductor material region and the other side contacted with a respective one of the sidewalls of the first epitaxial growth layer.

5 . The laterally structured avalanche photodetector of claim 4 , wherein the first semiconductor material is silicon, and the second semiconductor material is germanium.

6 . The laterally structured avalanche photodetector of claim 1 , wherein the second epitaxial growth layer is provided with P-type doping.

7 . The laterally structured avalanche photodetector of claim 1 , wherein the first semiconductor material is silicon, and the second semiconductor material is germanium.

8 . The laterally structured avalanche photodetector of claim 1 , further comprising:

an optical waveguide, extending above the first epitaxial growth layer, and separated from the upper surface of the first epitaxial growth layer by a preset distance, and comprising at least a first waveguide part and a second waveguide part,

wherein

the first waveguide part is configured to couple an optical signal to the first epitaxial growth layer, and comprises a first end for the optical signal to be input and a second end opposite to the first end along a propagation direction of the optical signal,

the second waveguide part is arranged outside the second end along the propagation direction of the optical signal, and is formed as a distributed Bragg reflector structure.

9 . The laterally structured avalanche photodetector of claim 8 , wherein the distributed Bragg reflector structure has a periodic width of 200 nm-500 nm, and material of the optical waveguide has a duty cycle of 30-70%.

10 . The laterally structured avalanche photodetector of claim 8 , further comprising:

a first metal electrode and a second metal electrode arranged along a direction perpendicular to the substrate plane,

the first semiconductor material region further formed with a first contact region and a second contact region which have opposite doping types and are contacted with the first metal electrode and the second metal electrode respectively, and the first charge region, the absorption region, the second charge region and the avalanche region being located between the first contact region and the second contact region in the first direction,

a distance between any one of the first metal electrode or the second metal electrode and the optical waveguide is equal to or greater than 500 nm.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (32)