Ultra-low capacitance and high speed germanium photodetectors on silicon

Abstract

We demonstrate waveguide integrated germanium detectors with capacitance as small as 2.4 fF and directly recorded impulse response as fast as 8.8 ps. Based on such detectors and cascaded silicon microring resonators we also demonstrate a highly scalable wavelength division demultiplexing system that can potentially provide tera-bit/s (Tbps) bandwidth over a small area.