AlGaAs/GaAs staircase avalanche photodiodes with high and extremely uniform avalanche gain

Author

Capasso, F. ; Ripamonti, G. ; Hutchinson, A.L. ; Meuhlner, D.J. ; Walker, J.F. ; Malik, R.J.

Author_Institution

AT&T Bell Lab., Murray Hill, NJ, USA

fYear

1988

fDate

11-14 Dec. 1988

Firstpage

491

Lastpage

493

Abstract

The authors report the first realization of a staircase avalanche photodiode. The structure, grown by molecular beam epitaxy, consists of a ten-stage undoped ( approximately=10/sup 14/ cm/sup -3/) 2.3- mu m-thick high-filed region between p/sup +/ and n/sup +/ GaAs layers. Each stage includes a 1720-AA-thick Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As layer linearly graded from x=0 to x=0.54, followed by a 350-AA Al/sub 0.54/Ga/sub 0.46/As region and a 210-AA GaAs layer. Results are presented on current-voltage characteristics, photoresponse, and external quantum efficiency times avalanche gain versus photon energy.<>

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; avalanche photodiodes; gallium arsenide; molecular beam epitaxial growth; semiconductor junctions; 2.3 micron; 210 to 1720 A; AlGaAs-GaAs; MBE; avalanche gain; current-voltage characteristics; external quantum efficiency; high gain; molecular beam epitaxy; photon energy; photoresponse; semiconductors; staircase avalanche photodiode; uniform avalanche gain; Avalanche photodiodes; Dark current; Detectors; Doping; Electrons; Gain measurement; Gallium arsenide; Impact ionization; Signal to noise ratio; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electron Devices Meeting, 1988. IEDM '88. Technical Digest., International

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA, USA

ISSN

0163-1918

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEDM.1988.32862

Filename

32862