IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LElTERS, VOL. 6, NO.

6, JUNE 1994

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110-GHz, 50%-Efficiency MushroomMesa Waveguide p-i-n Photodiode for a 1.55-pm Wavelength

K. Kato, Member, IEEE, A. Kozen, Y. Muramoto, Y. Itaya, Member, IEEE, T. Nagatsuma, Member, IEEE, and M. Yaita
Absfracf-A mushroom-mesa structure is proposed to reduce the CR-time constant which originates from the waveguide photodiode structure. Experimental results at a 1.55-pm wavelength show that the multimode waveguide p-i-n photodiode with mushroom-mesa structure has an electrical 3-dB bandwidth of more than 75 GAZ in the frequency domain and an electrical 3-dB bandwidth of 110 GHz in the time domain. The external .3 quantum efficiency is 50% or 0 6 A N , which leads to a record bandwidth-efficiency product of 55 GHz for long wavelength p-i-n photodetectors.

constant is strictly limited by the waveguide structure itself at ultrahigh frequencies above 50 GHz. In this paper, a mushroom-mesa WGPD is proposed to overcome the tradeoff between the capacitance and contact resistance and a record performance of 110-GHz operation is demonstrated at a 1.55-pm wavelength. 11. DEVICE STRUCTURE AND FABRICATION The tradeoff between capacitance and contact resistance arises from the fact that capacitance is proportional to the area of the core layer while contact resistance is inversely proportional to the area of the cladding layers. Especially when the core thickness is designed to be thinner to obtain wider bandwidth, the capacitance increases and the tradeoff becomes even more serious. For example, a 100-GHz bandwidth requires the core thickness of less than 0.2 pm, which causes a capacitance of about 30 f for a typical-sized WGPD F (4-pm wide, 12-pm long). Since the contact resistance for a 4-pm wide WGPD is around 40 R, the total resistance for a 5 0 4 system is 90 R and the CR-time constant limits the bandwidth to a maximum of 60 GHz. For a bandwidth of more than 100 GHz, we propose a waveguide structure whose cladding layers are wider than the core layer, as shown in Fig. 1. We call it the mushroommesa structure. Using the step segment method [SI, the total thickness of the core and cladding layers together was designed to be 1.8-pm thick to provide a multimode configuration. These layers were grown by low-pressure metalorganic vaporphase epitaxy on a semi-insulating InP substrate. The mushroom mesa with 6-pm-wide cladding layers was formed by CzH6/02 reactive ion etching and then the InGaAs core layer was selectively etched with a sulfuric acid mixture. The mesa was buried with polyimide and integrated with a 50-0-impedance coplanar transmission line. The fabricated devices were cleaved into 12-pm lengths by an automatic cleaving machine. The cross-sectional photograph shown in Fig. 2 confirms that a 1.5-pm-wide mushroom structure can be stably formed by this simple process. 111. DEVICE CHARACTERISTICS The measured extemal quantum efficiency at a 1.55-pm wavelength using single-mode fiber with a hemispherical end is shown as a function of the core width in Fig. 3. These results indicate that even a 1.5-pm wide mesa has a high efficiency

I. INTRODUCTION HOTODETECTORS offering both high efficiency and broad bandwidth will be critical devices in future wideband optical communication systems. Although the surfaceilluminated p-i-n photodiode can operate at high frequencies [ 13, the bandwidth-efficiency tradeoff degrades its efficiency. In an attempt to overcome the adverse tradeoff of surfaceilluminated p-i-n photodiodes, side-illuminated waveguide pi-n photodiodes (WGPD's) have been intensively investigated [2]-[5]. In this structure photogenerated carriers and the light travel in different directions and, consequently, the bandwidth and the internal quantum efficiency can be specified almost independently of each other. However, WGPD's had the serious drawback of not enough coupling efficiency to a fiber because of its narrow optical field distribution resulted in a lower external quantum efficiency than those of surfaceilluminated p-i-n photodiodes. To obtain a high external quantum efficiency, we devised a multimode waveguide structure with InGaAsP (Xg = 1.3 pm) intermediate layers between the InGaAs core and InP cladding layers [6]. A theoretical investigation revealed that the intermediate layers enlarge the optical field distribution to reach a coupling efficiency of as high as 90%, while a experimental results showed an external quantum efficiency of 68% as well as a bandwidth of 50 GHz [7]. In such a wideband photodiode, the bandwidth was limited mainly by the CR-time constant. This is because the contact resistance at the top layer increases when the area of the pn-junction is decreased to reduce capacitance. In other words, the CR-time
Manuscript received March 22, 1994. K. Kato, A. Kozen, Y. Muramoto, and Y. Itaya are with NTT Optoelectronics Laboratories, 3-1 Morinosato Wakamiya, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa 243-01, Japan. T. Nagatsuma and M. Yaita are with " T LSI Laboratories, 3-1 Morinosato I Wakamiya, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa 243-01, Japan. IEEE Log Number 9401757.

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Fig. 4. Frequency response measured by a spectrum analyzer (circles) and the frequency response deduced from the Fourier transform of the short pulse response (curve) at a 1.55-pm wavelength.

Fig. 2. Cross-sectional photograph of the mushroom-mesa structure.

of 50% or 0.63 A N . These high efficiencies can be realized because of the multimode configuration in the perpendicular direction. The loss for the mesa width of less than 3 um is due to the coupling loss in the horizontal direction, which is consistent with the optical field mismatch to a fiber with a 1.3-pm spot size (half width at l / e of maximum optical field). If the spot size of the input light is reduced down to less than 1 pm, the efficiency would improve to more than 80%. Experimental results have already demonstrated that the spot size of less than 1 pm can be realized by integration with an input optical waveguide [9]. A 1.5-pm-wide mesa had a capacitance of 15 fF and a resistance of less than 10 s2 from which the bandwidth limited by the CR-time constant of 180 GHz was deduced. The circles in Fig. 4 show the frequency response at a -3 V bias for a 50-R-impedance system, which was measured using a onwafer probe and a spectrum analyzer with preselected external mixers. A 1.55-pm light was generated from a heterodyne optical sweeper. The whole system was strictly calibrated with a standard power source. The response is flat over the range from low frequencies and does not decrease even at 75 GHz. This is the highest bandwidth yet reported for 1.55-pm photodetectors in the frequency domain.

[2.5 ps/div]
Fig. 5. Short pulse response at a 1.55-pm wavelength measured by electro-optic sampling.

Fig. 5 shows the 1.55-pm-wavelength short pulse response measured using electro-optic sampling [lo]. The pump and probe experiment was conducted using a laser-diode-based adiabatically compressed soliton pulse with a full-width at half-maximum of 750 fs. The response has a full-width at half-maximum of 3.4 ps. Considering the sampling system response, such as pulse width and optical transit time, the deconvolved device response is estimated to be 3.2 ps, which corresponds to an electrical 3-dB bandwidth of beyond 110 GHz. The Fourier transform of the measured waveform is shown in the frequency response by the curve in Fig. 4, which also shows the electrical 3-dB bandwidth of 110 GHz. This is the first demonstration of an ultrawide bandwidth for a photodetector at a 1.55-pm wavelength. The bandwidthefficiency product of 55 GHz obtained here is also a record performance for long wavelength p-i-n photodetectors.

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IV. SUMMARY
A mushroom-mesa structure has been devised to reduce the CR-time constant originating from the waveguide photodiode structure. The multimode waveguide p-i-n photodiode with mushroom-mesa structure demonstrated both a record bandwidth of 110 GHz and an extemal quantum efficiency of 50% at a 1.55-pm wavelength. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank Dr. S. Hata, Dr. K. Kawano, and Dr. M. Shinagawa for useful discussions, Dr. T. Otsuji for transmission line design, Dr. K. Nakamura for AR coating, and Dr. H. Tsuchiya, Dr. M. Naganuma, and Dr. K. Takeya for their encouragement.
REFERENCES [ I ] Y. G.Wey, K. S. Giboney, J. E. Bowers, M. J. W. Rodwell, P. Silvestre, P. Thiagarajan, and G. Y. Robinson, 108-GHz G a I n A s h P photodiodes with integrated bias tees and matched resistors, IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 5, pp. 1310-1312, 1993.

[2] J. E. Bowers and C. A. Burrus, High-speed zero-bias waveguide photodetectors, Electron. Lett., vol. 22, pp. 905-906, 1986. [3] , Ultrawide-band long-wavelength p-i-n photodetectors, J. Lightwave Technol., vol. LT-5, pp. 1339-1350, 1987. [4] K. Kato, S. Hata, A. Kozen, J. Yoshida, and K. Kawano, Highefficiency waveguide InGaAs pin photodiode with bandwidth of over 40 GHz, IEEE Photon. Technol. Lert., vol. 3, pp. 473-474, 1991. [5] D. Wake, T. P. Spooner, S. D. Pemn, and M. J. Harlow, 50 GHz InGaAs edge-coupled pin photodetector, Electron. Lett., vol. 27, pp. 1073-1075, 199 1. [6] K. Kato, S. Hata, A. Kozen, J. Yoshida, and K. Kawano, Highly efficient 40 GHz waveguide InGaAs p-i-n photodiode employing multimode waveguide structure, IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 3, pp. 820-822, 1991. [7] K. Kato, S. Hata, K. Kawano, J. Yoshida, and A. Kozen, A highefficiency 50 GHz InGaAs multimode waveguide photodetector, IEEE J. Quantum Electron., vol. 28, pp. 2728-2135, 1992. [8] K. Kawano, K. Wakita, 0. Mitomi, I. Kotaka, H. Asai, Y. Kawamura, and M. Naganuma, Design of InGaAsnnAlAs multiple quantum well (MQW) optical modulators, IEEE J. Quantum Electron., vol. 28, pp. 224-230, 1992. [9] K. Kato, S. Hata, K. Kawano, and A. Kozen, Design of ultrawideband, high-sensitivity p-i-n photodetectors, IEICE Trans. Electron., vol. E76-C, pp. 214-221, 1993. [IO] T. Nagatsuma, Measurement of high-speed device and integrated circuits using electro-optic sampling technique, IEICE Trans. Electron., vol. E76-C, pp. 55-63, 1993.