Room-temperature extended short-wave infrared GeSn photodetectors realized by ion beam techniques

GeSn alloys hold great promise as high-performance, low-cost, near- and short-wavelength infrared photodetectors with the potential to replace the relatively expensive and currently market-dominant InGaAs- and InSb-based photodetectors. In this Letter, we demonstrate room-temperature GeSn pn photodetectors fabricated by a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor compatible process, involving Sn and P ion implantation and flash-lamp annealing prior to device fabrication. The fabrication process enables the alloying of Ge with Sn at concentrations up to 4.5% while maintaining the high-quality single-crystalline structure of the material. This allows us to create Ge0.955Sn0.045 pn photodetectors with a low dark current density of 12.8mA/cm(2) and a relatively high extended responsivity of 0.56A/W at 1.71 mu m. These results pave the way for the implementation of a cost-effective, scalable, and CMOS-compatible short-wavelength infrared detector technology.