Electrically controlled enhancement in plasmonic mid-infrared photodiode

Opt Express. 2018 Mar 5;26(5):5452-5460. doi: 10.1364/OE.26.005452.

Abstract

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) have been attracting tremendous attention in application of enhanced optoelectronic devices owing to their capability of localizing electromagnetic waves in deep subwavelength scale. We propose a plasmonic mid-infrared InAsSb-based n-i-p photodiode with electrically-controlled photocurrent enhancement achieved by controlling the overlap between SPP depth and the absorption layer, from which maximum electrically controlled enhancement factors of ~5x and ~6x have been achieved for room temperature (293 K) and 77 K operation, respectively, corresponding to electrical tuning factors of 11.9 and 26. The maximum detectivities obtained at the two temperatures are 0.8 × 1010 Jones and 5 × 1011 Jones, respectively. This electrically controlled enhancement expands the application capability of plasmonic photodiodes.