Plasmonic gratings for enhanced near infrared sensitivity of Silicon based Schottky photodetectors

Schottky photodetectors have been intensively investigated due to their high speeds, low device capacitances, and sensitivity in telecommunication standard bands, in the 0.8μm to 1.5μm wavelength range. Due to extreme cost advantage of Silicon over compound semiconductors, and seamless integration with VLSI circuits, metal-Silicon Schottky photodetectors are attractive low cost alternatives to InGaAs technology. However, efficiencies of Schottky type photodetectors are limited due to thin absorption region. Previous efforts such as resonant cavities increase the sensitivity using optical techniques, however their integration with VLSI circuits is difficult. Therefore, there is a need for increasing Schottky detector sensitivity, in a VLSI compatible fashion. To address this problem, we design plasmonic grating structures to increase light absorption at the metal-Silicon Schottky interface. There are earlier reports of plasmonic structures to increase Schottky photodetector sensitivity, with a renowned interest in the utilization of plasmonic effects to improve the absorption characteristics of metal-semiconductor interfaces. In this work, we report the design, fabrication and characterization of Gold-Silicon Schottky photodetectors with enhanced absorption in the near infrared region. © 2011 IEEE.