We demonstrate high-speed all-optical switching via vertical excitation of an electron–hole plasma in an oxygen-ion implanted silicon-on-insulator microring resonator. Based on the plasma dispersion effect the spectral response of the device is rapidly modulated by photoinjection and subsequent recombination of charge carriers at artificially introduced fast recombination centers. At an implantation dose of $1\times {10}^{12}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}$ the carrier lifetime is reduced to $55\mathrm{ps}$ , which facilitates optical switching of signal light in the $1.55\mu \mathrm{m}$ wavelength range at modulation speeds larger than $5\mathrm{Gbits}∕\mathrm{s}$ .