In a method of forming a photonic device, a first silicon electrode is formed, and then a germanium active layer is formed on the first silicon electrode while including n-type dopant atoms in the germanium layer, during formation of the layer, to produce a background electrical dopant concentration that is greater than an intrinsic dopant concentration of germanium. A second silicon electrode is then formed on a surface of the germanium active layer. The formed germanium active layer is doped with additional dopant for supporting an electrically-pumped guided mode as a laser gain medium with an electrically-activated n-type electrical dopant concentration that is greater than the background dopant concentration to overcome electrical losses of the photonic device.