Photonic-plasmonic mode coupling in nanopillar Ge-on-Si PIN photodiodes

Abstract

Incorporating group IV photonic nanostructures within active top-illuminated photonic devices often requires light-transmissive contact schemes. In this context, plasmonic nanoapertures in metallic films can not only be realized using CMOS compatible metals and processes, they can also serve to influence the wavelength-dependent device responsivities. Here, we investigate crescent-shaped nanoapertures in close proximity to Ge-on-Si PIN nanopillar photodetectors both in simulation and experiment. In our geometries, the absorption within the devices is mainly shaped by the absorption characteristics of the vertical semiconductor nanopillar structures (leaky waveguide modes). The plasmonic resonances can be used to influence how incident light couples into the leaky modes within the nanopillars. Our results can serve as a starting point to selectively tune our device geometries for applications in spectroscopy or refractive index sensing.