title: Integrated Amorphous Silicon p-i-n Temperature Sensor for CMOS Photonics.
abstract: Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) shows interesting optoelectronic and technological properties that make it suitable for the fabrication of passive and active micro-photonic devices, compatible moreover with standard microelectronic devices on a microchip. A temperature sensor based on a hydrogenated amorphous silicon p-i-n diode integrated in an optical waveguide for silicon photonics applications is presented here. The linear dependence of the voltage drop across the forward-biased diode on temperature, in a range from 30 °C up to 170 °C, has been used for thermal sensing. A high sensitivity of 11.9 mV/°C in the bias current range of 34-40 nA has been measured. The proposed device is particularly suitable for the continuous temperature monitoring of CMOS-compatible photonic integrated circuits, where the behavior of the on-chip active and passive devices are strongly dependent on their operating temperature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Information Engineering Infrastructures and Sustainable Energy (DIIES), "Mediterranea" University, Reggio Calabria 89122, Italy. sandro.rao@unirc.it.
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Department of Information Engineering Infrastructures and Sustainable Energy (DIIES), "Mediterranea" University, Reggio Calabria 89122, Italy. giovanni.pangallo@unirc.it.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pangallo
authors.affiliation: Department of Information Engineering Infrastructures and Sustainable Energy (DIIES), "Mediterranea" University, Reggio Calabria 89122, Italy. francesco.dellacorte@unirc.it.
authors.forename: Francesco Giuseppe
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Della Corte
keywords: amorphous silicon; p-i-n diode; photonic integrated circuit; temperature sensors