The Boeing Company
Universal broadband photodetector design and fabrication process

Abstract:

A broad-spectral-bandwidth photodetector designed for use with all types of optical fibers used in different avionics networks and sensors and a process for fabricating such photodetectors. A Schottky barrier photodetector is provided that includes germanium, which has a broad spectral response to light in the ultraviolet to near-infrared range (220 to 1600 nm). The provision of a photodetector having a broad spectral response avoids the use of multiple different types of photodetectors and receivers in an avionics platform with different optical fiber networks and sensors.