Metamorphic long wavelength high-speed photodiode

Details Metamorphic long wavelength high-speed photodiode Metamorphic long wavelength high-speed photodiode

2001-01-22

2003-05-06

Zarabian, Amir (Department: 2822)

Semiconductor device manufacturing: process

Making device or circuit emissive of nonelectrical signal

Graded composition

C438S029000, C438S046000, C438S938000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06558973

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to semiconductor devices and methods for manufacturing the same. The present invention also relates to photodiode devices and methods for manufacturing the same. The present invention additionally relates to high-speed, long-wavelength photodiode devices and improved methods for manufacturing the same. The present invention further relates to techniques for growing semiconductor photodiode devices on substrates.
With the rapid development of lightwave communications, low-cost, high-performance optical photodiodes are required for a variety of system applications. Photodiodes are p-n junction semiconductor devices that produce a significant photocurrent when illuminated. Photodiodes operate based on principals of photoconductivity, which is an enhancement of the conductivity of p-n semiconductor junctions due to the absorption of electromagnetic radiation. Photoconductivity may result from the action of radiation in the visible portion of the spectrum in some materials.
There are two main classes of photodiodes currently in use today. These are depletion-layer diodes and avalanche diodes. Depletion-layer photodiodes are based on a reverse-biased p-n junction configuration operated below a particular breakdown voltage. When exposed to electromagnetic radiation of a desired wavelength, excess charge carriers may be produced as a result of absorption. Such carriers may be formed as electron-hole pairs. Those electron-hole pairs generated in or near to a depletion layer at a junction, cross the junction and produce a photocurrent. Avalanche diodes are based on reverse-biased p-n junction diodes operated at voltages above the breakdown voltage. Current multiplication of electron-hole pairs, generated by incident electromagnetic radiation, occurs due to the “avalanche process,” well known in the photodiode arts.
Semiconductor photodiodes can be constructed from any semiconductor and are typically constructed from single crystal silicon wafers similar to those utilized in the manufacture of integrated circuits. Long-wavelength (e.g., 1310 nm and 1550 nm) photodiodes are typically made from InGaAs with nominally the same lattice constant as Indium Phosphide (InP).
Currently, long-wavelength (about 1200 nm-1650 nm), high-speed photodiodes are all grown on Indium Phosphide (InP) substrates. The integration of receiver photodiode components operating in the long-wavelength range necessitates the utilization of Indium Gallium Arsenide (InGaAs) p-i-n photodetectors and, hence, a technology based on InP substrates in order to avoid strained layers, which cause misfit dislocations due to the lattice mismatch. Unlike Silicon (Si) and Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), however, InP is not as well established and is very fragile. In addition, InP substrates are expensive and not available in sizes as large as GaAs or Si. Finally, gas phase epitaxial growth on InP requires the use of phosphine, which is often not available on particular epitaxial systems and causes several technical problems.
FIG. 1
depicts a cross-sectional view of a prior art monolithic integrated photoreceiver to illustrate prior art photodiode fabrication techniques. As shown in
FIG. 1
, a photoreceiver
100
may detect and amplify optical beam
50
, which impinges on p-i-n photodiode
23
at a wavelength •
s
, which can be chosen to be greater than 1.0 &mgr;m because, among other reasons, the InP semiconductor may be transparent for those wavelengths. Such an integrated photoreceiver may afford materials compatibility and separate optimization control over the photonics and electronics functions because each device is electrically isolated as well as physically separated from the others. It is important to note, however, that despite materials compatibility and separate optimization control, such a device is relatively expensive, fragile, and difficult to process, requiring complicated integration into components. It should be noted that the semiconductor layers underlying the HBT, while structurally adapted for forming a photodiode, are not electrically or optically active.
In the prior art photoreceiver structure illustrated in
FIG. 1
, the photodiode and heterostructure bipolar transistor have semiconductor layers selected from the InP/InGaAs material system and grown over a non-patterned Fe doped InP substrate.
Standard fabrication techniques, including metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE), selective wet chemical etching, reactive ion etching and contact metallization, may be utilized to fabricate the prior art illustrated in FIG.
1
. These fabrication techniques are well known to those persons of ordinary skill in the art and, thus, are not discussed in detail here.
The prior art device illustrated in
FIG. 1
may be epitaxially grown on a planar Fe doped <001>oriented InP substrate
10
. The p-i-n epilayers comprise a 4000 • thick InP layer
20
, a 1.0 &mgr;m thick InGaAs layer
21
, and a 4000 • thick InP layer
22
, which may be grown on semi-insulating substrate
10
by MOVPE. Semiconductor layers
20
,
21
, and
22
thus may form p-i-n photodiode
23
.
The epitaxial layers of heterostructure bipolar transistor (HBT)
24
can be grown over the entire structure, such that no intervening processing exists between the deposition of each epilayer. That is, the growth run may be continuous and uninterrupted. HBT
24
may comprise a sub-collector layer
25
, collector layer
26
, base layer
27
, emitter layer
28
, and an emitter cap layer
29
. It should be noted that HBT
24
may be configured as a single heterostructure device, while photodetector
23
may possess a photoabsorbing layer
21
.
After the growth of the photodiode and heterostructure bipolar transistor epitaxial layers, wet chemical etching can be performed to realize the mesa structures thereof. In association with the wet chemical etch, photoresist patterning can be oriented
45
degrees to the [001] and [001] crystallographic direction planes in order to maintain the geometrical shape of the mesa structure. Alternatively stated, the line features of the devices, that is, photodiode
23
and HBT
24
, can be delineated so that they are 45 degrees to the [001] and [001] direction planes.
Conventional ohmic contacts, such as AuGe/Au and AuZn/Au, may be deposited on the lateral edges of the mesa in order to provide ohmic contacts
31
,
32
,
33
, and
34
to layer
20
, subcollector layer
25
, base layer
27
, and emitter cap layer
29
, respectively. It should be noted that standard metallic deposition techniques can be employed in fabricating the ohmic contact. Additionally, for photodetector
23
, an annular alloyed ohmic contact
30
may provide contact to layer
22
. Annular ohmic contact
30
may be formed by standard photolithographic, including evaporation and lift-off techniques well known in the art.
To reflect any unabsorbed optical beam
50
back into photoabsorbing region
21
and, thus, increase the quantum efficiency, a non-alloyed Cr/Au metal contact
36
can be deposited in the annular opening of contact
30
. After planarization and passivation, such as by using a spun-on polyimide
35
, reactive ion etching of the polyimide in an oxygen plasma may be employed to open windows therein in order to facilitate attaching leads, not shown, to the ohmic contacts. After fabrication, substrate
10
may be thinned and polished in order to permit backside illumination.
Based on the foregoing, those skilled in the art can appreciate that prior art manufacturing methods for semiconductor devices, such as photodiodes grown on InP substrates, are expensive, fragile, difficult to process, and additionally difficult to build into components. Such processing complexity also results in inefficiencies and increased manufacturing expenses. In view of reducing the processing complexity, it is, therefore, desirable to develop an alternative technique for forming high-speed photodiodes and devices based on high-speed photodiodes, such as photo

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