Prospects for low noise and high speed InGaAs-on-silicon photodetectors

InGaAs-on-silicon photodetectors are very attractive in a variety of low noise and high-speed applications where the superior thermal and electrical properties of Si can be exploited to overcome the limitations of existing detectors. InGaAs-on-silicon p-i-n devices can potentially have a much higher dynamic range than InP-based devices. The low excess noise of InGaAs-on-silicon avalanche photodiodes (APD) has a direct impact on receiver sensitivity and the high gain-bandwidth product is of particular interest in high-speed (10 Gb/s and above) systems.