Silicon‐Compatible Photodetectors: Trends to Monolithically Integrate Photosensors with Chip Technology

Encouraged by the increasing requirements of intelligent equipment, silicon integrated circuit–compatible photodetectors that support single‐chip photonic–electronic systems have gained considerable progresses. Advanced materials have resulted in enhanced device performance based on traditional photovoltaic effect and photoconductive effect, and novel device designs have catalyzed new working mechanisms combing rapid photoresponse and high responsivity gain. Surprising applications are developed using monolithic photonic–electronic platforms, and the developing integration strategies keep pace with the developing complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor techniques as well as nonsilicon substrates. Here, the recent developments in silicon‐compatible photodetectors, both in device advances and their integration routes, are reviewed. Meanwhile, the progresses, challenges, and possible future directions in this field are discussed and concluded. Single‐chip photonic–electronic systems have catalyzed plenty of surprising applications, where silicon‐compatible photodetectors play an important role. Here, the recent advances in silicon‐compatible photodetectors as well as the integration strategies with electronic components are reviewed. Massive important progresses are achieved and potential future directions are discussed to develop the next‐generation monolithic photonic–electronic platforms.