An Analytic Approach to Study the Effects of Optical Phonon Scattering Loss on the Characteristics of Avalanche Photodiodes

In this paper, we have introduced an efficient analytic approach to study the effects of optical phonon scattering loss on the characteristics of avalanche photodiode (APDs) with multiplication regions as narrow as 25 nm. To do so, we have considered the energy loss caused by collision between carriers and optical phonons. We have also considered the effects of the carrier´s dead space and its previous ionization history to develop a new compact model for predicting multiplication gains as well as breakdown conditions in APDs valid for a vast range of temperature. These predicted values can be used to extract carriers´ impact ionization coefficients and ionization threshold energies. As an example, we have used our model to predict and extract the aforementioned characteristics and parameters for Al_0.6Ga_0.4 As-APDs operating at temperatures over the range of 13 K ¿ T ¿ 290 K. Comparisonof these results with experimental data available in literature has demonstrated the capability of the new developed model as a powerful tool for simulating APDs´ behavior and interpreting their experimentally measured characteristics.