An optoelectronic circuit with a light source, an optical waveguide and a sensor all on silicon: Results and analysis of a novel system

A full analysis of an optoelectronic circuit on silicon composed by a light emitter, an optical waveguide and a photodetector is achieved. The light emitter is based on silicon rich oxide multilayers. The multilayer structure exhibits an electroluminescence spectra from 400 nm to 800 nm. Light emitter and optical waveguide are located next to each other in a novel topology that allows the direct impact of the photons to the depletion layer of the sensor, increasing the efficiency. An optical rib-type waveguide and multi-modal, using Si3N4 and SiO2 as core and cladding materials, is considered to propagate the light from the light emitter to the sensor. Analysis of the waveguide reveals that the optimal height is 1.25 µm, when a width of 5 µm and a fractional height of 0.8 are used. A relative transmittance of the optical waveguide shows that the propagated light maintains the wide spectrum. A planar diode is used as photodetector. The proposal-integrated structure shows that light impinges directly on the depleted zone, improving detection and performance of the diode. Finally, a description of the novel optoelectronic circuit is addressed.