Temperature, Silicon Thickness and Intrinsic Length Influence on the Operation of Lateral SOI PIN Photodiodes

Abstract

This work presents an analysis of the influence of intrinsic length region and the thickness of the silicon film on the performance of lateral thin-film SOI PIN (Silicon on insulator P-I-N photodiodes) when illuminated by low wavelengths, in the blue and ultraviolet (UV) range. The experimental measurements performed with the wavelengths of 396 nm, 413 nm, and 460 nm in a temperature range of 100 K to 400 K showed that the optical responsivity of the SOI PIN photodetectors has larger dependence on the incident wavelength than on the variation of temperature. Two-dimensional numerical simulations showed the same trends as the experimental results as a function of temperature and as a function of wavelength. Numerical simulations were used to investigate the responsivity and total quantum efficiency of PIN SOI photodetectors with intrinsic length region ranging from 5 μm to 30 μm and silicon film thickness ranging between 40 nm to 500 nm. From the results it can be concluded that by properly choosing intrinsic length and silicon film thickness it is possible to optimize PIN SOI photodiodes performance for detecting specific wavelengths that can help defining the best technology for detection of a given wavelength.