Heterogeneously Integrated Graphene/Silicon/Halide Waveguide Photodetectors toward Chip-Scale Zero-Bias Long-Wave Infrared Spectroscopic Sensing

Mid-infrared absorption spectroscopy plays an important role in molecule identification and quantification for widespread applications. Integrated photonics provides opportunities to perform spectroscopic sensing on-chip for the minimization of device size, cost, and power consumption. The integration of waveguides and photodetectors is an indispensable step toward the realization of these on-chip sensing systems. It is desired to extend the operating wavelengths of these on-chip sensing systems to the long-wave infrared (LWIR) range to utilize more molecular absorption fingerprints. However, the development of LWIR waveguideintegrated photodetectors faces challenges from both waveguide platforms due to the bottom cladding material absorption and photodetection technologies due to the low LWIR photon energy. Here, we demonstrate LWIR waveguide-integrated photodetectors through heterogeneous integration of graphene photodetectors and Si waveguides on CaF2 substrates. A high-yield transfer printing method is developed for flexibly integrating the waveguide and substrate materials to solve the bottom cladding material absorption issue. The fabricated Si-on-CaF2 waveguides show low losses in the broad LWIR wavelength range of 6.3-7.1 mu m. The graphene photodetector achieves a broadband responsivity of similar to 8 mA/W in these low-photon- energy LWIR wavelengths under zero-bias operation with the help of waveguide integration and plasmonic enhancement. We further integrate the graphene photodetector with a Si-on-CaF2 folded waveguide and demonstrate on-chip absorption sensing using toluene as an example. These results reveal the potential of our technology for the realization of chip-scale, low-cost, and low-power-consumption LWIR spectroscopic sensing systems.

Automated summary

Mid-infrared absorption spectroscopy is important for molecule identification and quantification, and integrated photonics technology allows on-chip spectroscopic sensing to minimize device size, cost, and power consumption. The integration of waveguides and photodetectors is essential for on-chip sensing systems, and extending the operating wavelengths to long-wave infrared range faces challenges from both waveguide platforms and photodetection technologies.