An ultra-compact InGaAs photodetector (PD) is demonstrated based on a photonic crystal (PhC) waveguide to meet the demand for a photoreceiver for future dense photonic integration. Although the PhC-PD has a length of only 1.7µm and a capacitance of less than 1fF, a high responsivity of 1A/W was observed both theoretically and experimentally. This low capacitance PD allows us to expect a resistor-loaded receiver to be realized that requires no electrical amplifiers. We fabricated a resistor-loaded PhC-PD for light-to-voltage conversion, and demonstrated a kV/W efficiency with a GHz bandwidth without using amplifiers. This will lead to a photoreceiver with an ultralow energy consumption of less than 1fJ/bit, which is a step along the road to achieving a dense photonic network and processor on a chip.