Recent Progress in III-V Photodetectors Grown on Silicon

An efficient photodetector (PD) is a key component in silicon-based photonic integrated circuits (PICs). III-V PDs with low dark current density, large bandwidth, and wide operation wavelength range have become increasingly important for Si photonics in various applications. Monolithic integration of III-V PDs on Si by direct heteroepitaxy exhibits the lowest cost, the largest integration density, and the highest throughput. As the research of integrating III-V lasers on Si flourishes in the last decade, various types of III-V PDs on Si with different device structures and absorption materials have also been developed. While the integration of III-V lasers on Si using various technologies has been systematically reviewed, there are few reviews of integrating III-V PDs on Si. In this article, we review the most recent advances in III-V PDs directly grown on Si using two different epitaxial techniques: blanket heteroepitaxy and selective heteroepitaxy.