An analytical approximation for the excess noise factor of avalanche photodiodes with dead space

Author

Hayat, Majeed M. ; Chen, Zikuan ; Karim, Mohammad A.

Author_Institution

Electro-Opt. Program, Dayton Univ., OH, USA

Volume

20

Issue

7

fYear

1999

fDate

7/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

344

Lastpage

347

Abstract

Approximate analytical expressions are derived for the mean gain and the excess noise factor of avalanche photodiodes including the effect of dead space. The analysis is based on undertaking a characteristic-equation approach to obtain an approximate analytical solution to the existing system of recurrence equations which characterize the statistics of the random multiplication gain. The analytical expressions for the excess noise factor and the mean gain are shown to be in good agreement with the exact results obtained from numerical solutions of the recurrence equations for values of the dead space reaching up to 20% of the width of the multiplication region.

Keywords

avalanche photodiodes; semiconductor device models; semiconductor device noise; analytical model; avalanche photodiode; characteristic equation; dead space; excess noise factor; mean gain; multiplication region; recurrence equation; Avalanche photodiodes; Difference equations; Electrons; Impact ionization; Noise generators; Noise measurement; Noise reduction; Signal to noise ratio; Space exploration; Statistical analysis;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.772371

Filename

772371