Very large arrays of flip-chip bonded 1.55 μm photodetectors

We present very large arrays of InGaAs-InP p-i-n photodetectors flip-chip bonded to Si. The photodiodes are designed for operation at zero bias, e.g., for spectroscopic applications. Our design maintains depletion at zero bias resulting in /spl sim/99% photocurrent collection efficiency. The series resistance of our photodiodes is <1 /spl Omega/ for a 40/spl times/40 /spl mu/m device, including the flip-chip bond, resulting in high tolerance to shunt leakage. We produce arrays of photodiodes as large as 120 and measure leakage currents. We analyze zero-bias photocurrent generation in the presence of leakage and determine that with this technology arrays as large as 128 can be produced with high yield. The concept of redundancy in zero-bias photodiode arrays is presented and explored. Under the assumption that photodiode leakage is produced by microscopic point defects, a substantial increase in uniformity can be achieved in photodetector arrays by employing redundancy.