Photodiode integration on silicon nitride

In this project the fellow, Gabriele Navickaite, will conceive and realize monolithic integration of semiconductor photodetectors on top of a passive Silicon Nitride (SiN) Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC).

This project will show for the first time the monolithic combination of the SiN passive platform with an active semiconductive element and thus constitutes an important step towards further integration.

It clearly fills a market gap in the growing integrated photonics business.Whereas the SiN platform has obtained significant attention in the past years, because of its low loss (10 times better than silicon) and large transparency window, the application space is limited by the absence of active elements on the PIC platform.

A research and business breakthrough would be the combination of the low loss SiN platform with an active material for photon detection.

LIGENTEC has already gained market insights that the additional integrated functionality is desired by the end-customer and will be still affordable due to wafer scale processing.

In addition to passive SiN component (see an array waveguide grating chip in Figure 1) LIGENTEC has developed fabrication processes that enable evanescent coupling of SiN to other materials.The applicant seeks to build on this development and integrate evanescently coupled photodetectors.

The fellow Gabriele Navickaite together with the host company LIGENTEC proposes to reach the following objectives in the time frame of 24 months for the first time:●Demonstration of integrated photodiodes on SiN photonic platform●Demonstration of a packaged SiN PIC for wavelength splitting at VIS wavelengths and detecting (DEMO) This 24-month project foresees to design and simulate the integrated photodiode, develop the material and finally fabricate and test a prototype.