High-speed and low-noise SACM avalanche photodiodes with an impact-ionization-engineered multiplication region

The evolution of long-haul optical fiber telecommunications systems to bit rates greater than 10 GB/s has created a need for avalanche photodiodes (APDs) with higher bandwidths and higher gain-bandwidth products than are currently available. It is also desirable to maintain good quantum efficiency and low excess noise. At present, the best performance (f3dB ~ 15 GHz at low gain and gain-bandwidth product ~ 150 GHz) has been achieved by AlInAs/InGaAs(P) multiple quantum well (MQW) APDs. In this paper we report a resonant-cavity InAlAs/InGaAs APD that operates near 1.55 μm. These APDs have achieved very low noise (k equivalent to 0.18) as a result of the very thin multiplication regions that were utilized. The low noise is explained in terms of a new model that accounts for the non-local nature of impact ionization. A unity-gain bandwith of 24 GHz and a gain-bandwidth-product of 290 GHz were achieved.

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Low-noise InP-based avalanche photodiodes with an impact-ionization-engineered multiplication region

The 15th Annual Meeting of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society ◽

10.1109/leos.2002.1159394 ◽

2003 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

S. Wang ◽

J.B. Hurst ◽

F. Ma ◽

R. Sidhu ◽

X. Sun ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Impact Ionization ◽

Avalanche Photodiodes ◽

Low Noise

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High-speed, low-noise resonant-cavity avalanche photodiodes

Conference Proceedings LEOS'96 9th Annual Meeting IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society ◽

10.1109/leos.1996.565298 ◽

2002 ◽

Author(s):

Hui Nie ◽

K.A. Anselm ◽

C. Hu ◽

B.G. Streetman ◽

J.C. Campbell

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Avalanche Photodiodes ◽

Resonant Cavity ◽

Low Noise

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High-speed, low-noise avalanche photodiodes

Optical Fiber Communication Conference. Technical Digest Postconference Edition. Trends in Optics and Photonics Vol.37 (IEEE Cat. No. 00CH37079) ◽

10.1109/ofc.2000.869432 ◽

2002 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

J.C. Campbell ◽

H. Nie ◽

C. Lenox ◽

G. Kinsey ◽

P. Yuan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Avalanche Photodiodes ◽

Low Noise

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Design considerations for high-speed low-noise avalanche photodiodes

10.1117/12.446539 ◽

2001 ◽

Author(s):

Beng K. Ng ◽

Jo S. Ng ◽

Paul J. Hambleton ◽

John P. R. David ◽

D. S. Ong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Avalanche Photodiodes ◽

Low Noise ◽

Design Considerations

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Temperature Dependence Study of Mesa-Type InGaAs/InAlAs Avalanche Photodiode Characteristics

Advances in OptoElectronics ◽

10.1155/2017/2084621 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2017 ◽

pp. 1-5 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Jack Jia-Sheng Huang ◽

H. S. Chang ◽

Yu-Heng Jan ◽

C. J. Ni ◽

H. S. Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Temperature Dependence ◽

Breakdown Voltage ◽

Dark Current ◽

High Speed ◽

Impact Ionization ◽

Low Noise ◽

Bandgap Energy ◽

Avalanche Breakdown ◽

Recombination Mechanism ◽

Avalanche Breakdown Voltage

Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are key optical receivers due to their performance advantages of high speed, high sensitivity, and low noise. The most critical device parameters of APD include the avalanche breakdown voltage and dark current. In this work, we study the temperature dependence of the breakdown voltage and dark current of the mesa-type APD over a wide temperature range of 20–145°C. We institute an empirical model based on impact ionization processes to account for the experimental data. It is shown that highly stable breakdown characteristics of mesa-type APD can be attained with the optimization of the multiplication layer design. We have achieved excellent stability of avalanche breakdown voltage with a temperature coefficient of 0.017 V/°C. The temperature dependence of dark current is attributed to generation-recombination mechanism. The bandgap energy is estimated to be about 0.71 eV based on the temperature variation of dark current, in good agreement with the value for InGaAs.

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