Two-dimensional molybdenum ditelluride waveguide-integrated near-infrared photodetector

Abstract Low-cost, small-sized, and easy integrated high-performance photodetectors for photonics are still the bottleneck of photonic integrated circuits applications and have attracted increasing attention. The tunable narrow bandgap of two-dimensional (2D) layered molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe 2 ) from ∼0.83 to ∼1.1 eV makes it one of the ideal candidates for near-infrared (NIR) photodetectors. Herein, we demonstrate an excellent waveguide-integrated NIR photodetector by transferring mechanically exfoliated 2D MoTe 2 onto a silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ) waveguide. The photoconductive photodetector exhibits excellent responsivity ( R ), detectivity ( D *), and external quantum efficiency at 1550 nm and 50 mV, which are 41.9 A W −1 , 16.2 × 10 10 Jones, and 3360%, respectively. These optoelectronic performances are 10.2 times higher than those of the free-space device, revealing that the photoresponse of photodetectors can be enhanced due to the presence of waveguide. Moreover, the photodetector also exhibits competitive performances over a broad wavelength range from 800 to 1000 nm with a high R of 15.4 A W −1 and a large D * of 59.6 × 10 9 Jones. Overall, these results provide an alternative and prospective strategy for high-performance on-chip broadband NIR photodetectors.