High-efficiency Ge-based waveguide photodetector integrated with a grating coupler on silicon-on-insulator

We propose the design of a composite device structure with germanium-based (Ge-based) waveguide photodetectors integrated with grating couplers on a silicon-on-insulator platform. The finite-difference time-domain method is used to establish simulation models and optimize the design of the waveguide detector and grating coupler. For the grating coupler, by adjusting the size parameters to the optimal value and combining the advantages of the nonuniform grating and the Bragg reflector structure, the peak coupling efficiency reaches 85% at 1550 nm and 75.5% at 2000 nm, which is, respectively, 31.3% and 14.6% higher than that of uniform grating. For the waveguide detector, a germanium-tin (GeSn) alloy was introduced to replace Ge as the active absorption layer at 1550 and 2000 nm, which not only broadened the detection range and significantly improved the light absorption of the detector but also realized the near-complete light absorption of the GeSn alloy when the device length was 10 µm. These results make it possible to miniaturize the device structure of Ge-based waveguide photodetectors.