| With the possibility of fully optical telecommunication networks now within industry's grasp, optical designers face numerous challenges as they attempt to integrate optical and electronic functions together while continually increasing capacity and speed.;This thesis is comprised of two novel projects. An attempt was made to fabricate, test, and characterize a polysilicon-germanium metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) 1550nm detector for long-haul optical communications. It was eventually determined that the high-quality germanium film required could not be fabricated given the limited resources at the Carleton University laboratory. Subsequently, a polysilicon MSM detector was fabricated, tested, and characterized at 850nm light for use in short-haul fiber communications and high bandwidth optical interconnects. Electron beam lithography, used for the first time in the Carleton Fabrication Lab, allowed the possibility of submicron dimensions, resulting in very small, fast devices. The detectors exhibited fast responses (1.5GHz), but large dark currents (∼40nA over 750 mum2). |
