Ultra-low noise avalanche photodiodes with a "centered-well" multiplication region

Author

Wang, Shuling ; Ma, Feng ; Li, Xiaowei ; Sidhu, Rubin ; Zheng, Xiaoguang ; Sun, Xiaoguang ; Holmes, Archie L. ; Campbell, Joe C.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX, USA

Volume

39

Issue

2

fYear

2003

fDate

2/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

375

Lastpage

378

Abstract

We report avalanche photodiodes with a "centered-well" multiplication region that have achieved high gain, low noise, and low dark current. The multiplication region consists of an ∼80 nm-thick Al_0.2Ga_0.8As layer sandwiched between two thin (10∼20 nm) layers of Al_0.6Ga_0.4As. Monte Carlo simulation shows the beneficial effect of spatial modulation of the ionization rates in this structure compared to homojunctions.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; Monte Carlo methods; aluminium compounds; avalanche photodiodes; gallium arsenide; impact ionisation; semiconductor device noise; 10 to 20 nm; 80 nm; Al_0.2Ga_0.8As; Al_0.2Ga_0.8As layer; Al_0.6Ga_0.4As; Monte Carlo simulation; centered-well multiplication region; excess noise factor; high gain; impact ionization; ionization rate spatial modulation; low dark current; low noise; ultra-low noise avalanche photodiodes; Avalanche photodiodes; Dark current; Electrons; Gallium arsenide; Heterojunctions; Impact ionization; Noise figure; Optical noise; Photodetectors; Sun;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2002.807183

Filename

1172858