Ge-on-Si Balanced Periodic Traveling-Wave Photodetector

Keye Sun, Ta-Ching Tzu, Robert Costanzo, Qianhuan Yu, Steven M. Bowers, and Andreas Beling
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, ks2kz@virginia.edu

Abstract: A balanced periodic traveling-wave photodetector (BP-TWPD) on silicon-on-insulator is

demonstrated for the first time. The device is composed of 8 germanium waveguide photodiodes and delivers
high output powers of 8.3 dBm at 5 GHz and 2.6 dBm at 25 GHz. The internal responsivity is 0.84 A/W and
the common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) is larger than 30 dB from DC to 30 GHz.
1. Introduction
Silicon photonics has drawn significant interest due to its technological and commercial importance.
Owing to mature Si process technology, large-scale photonic integrated circuits have become possible with
applications ranging from communications to microwave photonics [1]. High-power high speed photodiodes
(PDs) are one of the essential components in microwave photonic systems. In order to enhance the power
handling capability of the PDs, a parallel connection of multiple PDs to form an array has been previously
deployed [2]. However, improvements in output power usually come at the cost of reduced resistance-
capacitance (RC) limited bandwidth (BW), since total PD capacitance scales linearly with the number of
PDs. The traveling wave photodetector (TWPD) has been utilized to overcome this trade-off [3, 4]. In a
TWPD, the PD becomes a distributed device where the photocurrents from each PD along the transmission
line add constructively. Furthermore, a balanced PD of this type is able to cancel common mode noise which
can improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the system [5]. Thus, a P-TWPD connected in a balanced
fashion can harness both, the advantage of high SNR and high power handling capability. To the best of our
knowledge, such BP-TWPD on a Si platform has not been reported in the literature. In this work, we used
the Si photonics platform provided by the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM
Photonics) to demonstrate a BP-TWPD for high-power applications.

2. Experimental

Fig. 1 (a) shows a schematic of the BP-TWPD. The optical input signals are coupled into two waveguides
through edge couplers. Each waveguide splits the light evenly into four ways using 3 optical Y-junctions.
The electrical signal propagation delay on the coplanar waveguide (CPW) and optical signal propagation
delay in the optical waveguide are carefully designed to match each other so that the current from each Ge
PD adds constructively [6]. An optical image of the BP-TWPD is shown in Fig. 1 (b). Photodiodes that
require positive and negative bias with respect to the signal line S are labeled +PDs and –PDs, respectively.

Fig. 1. (a) Circuit schematic and (b) optical image of the BP-TWPD. (c) Dark I-V of the BP-TWPD.

The dark I-V characteristics of the device is shown in Fig. 1 (c). The dark current of the BP-TWPD
composed of 8 Ge PD is 1 μA at -1 V and lower than 10 μA at -5 V bias. The dark currents of the ±PDs are
very similar. The external fiber-coupled and internal responsivities of the BP-TWPD are 0.23 A/W and 0.85
A/W at 1550 nm, respectively. The frequency response of the BP-TWPD was measured using an optical

978-1-7281-0615-1/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE

 heterodyne setup and the results are shown in Fig. 2 (a). The device has a 3-dB BW of 6 GHz when measured
with an off-chip 50 Ω termination. The frequency response shows a gentle roll-off of 7 dB from DC to 15
GHz and has a plateau from 15 to 30 GHz. The CMRR of the BP-TWPD was measured at 10 mA
photocurrent using an off-chip free space optical delay line to provide either differential or common mode
signals to the ±PDs. The results are shown in Fig. 2 (b). The CMRR is over 30 dB from DC to 30 GHz.

Fig. 2. (a) Frequency response of the BP-TWPD. (b) CMRR of the BP-TWPD.

First, we measured the RF saturation power of the +PDs and -PDs inside the BP-TWPD individually by
feeding the optical signal only into one edge coupler at a time. Then, the balanced RF power of the BP-
TWPD was measured using an off-chip 3 dB splitter and a variable free-space optical delay line in order to
provide a differential input signal to the +PDs and –PDs simultaneously. The results at 5 and 25 GHz are
shown in Fig. 3 (b) and (c). As expected, the balanced RF output power is approximately 6 dB higher than
the power from the ±PDs. The RF saturation power reaches 8.3 dBm at 5 GHz and 2.6 dBm at 25 GHz.

Fig. 3. RF power saturation power of the BP-TWPD at (a) 5 GHz and (b) 25 GHz.

3. Summary

A Ge-on-Si waveguide BP-TWPD with high 1-dB saturation powers of 8.3 dBm at 5 GHz and 2.6 dBm
at 25 GHz is demonstrated. The device has a CMRR of over 30 dB from DC to 30 GHz and enables high-
power balanced detection on a silicon photonics platform.
This work was supported by AIM Photonics sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory under Agreement
FA8650-15-2-522.
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