100 Gbps PAM4 ultra-thin photodetectors integrated on SOI platform by micro transfer printing

• Published in: Optics express 2023-10, Vol.31 (22), p.36273-36280
• Main Authors: Muthuganesan, Hemalatha, Mura, Enrica, Chugh, Shivangi, Antony, Cleitus, Pelucchi, Emanuele, Townsend, Paul, Yan, Xingzhao, Banakar, Mehdi, Tran, Ying, Littlejohns, Callum, Corbett, Brian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1094-4087; 1094-4087
• DOI: 10.1364/OE.502285

The integration of compact high-bandwidth III-V active devices in a scalable manner is highly significant for Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonic integrated circuits. To address this, we demonstrate the integration of pre-fabricated 21 × 57 µm 2 InGaAs photodetector (PD) coupons with a thickness of 675 nm to a 500 nm SOI platform using a direct bonding micro-transfer printing process. The common devices are coupled to the Si waveguides via butt, grating and evanescent coupling schemes with responsivities of 0.13, 0.3 and 0.6 A/W respectively, in line with simulations. The thin device facilitates simplified high-speed connections without the need for an interlayer dielectric. A back-to-back data communication rate of 50 Gb/s is achieved with on-off keying and with post processing of four-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM4) 100 Gb/s is realized. Potentially, around 1 million devices per 75 mm InP wafer can be attained. The integration of compact PDs exhibited in this work can be extended to modulators and lasers in the future.