Avalanche photodiodes are widely utilized in research, military and commercial applications
which make them attractive for further development. In this paper the results of numerical simulations
of uncooled InGaAs/InAlAs/InP based photodiodes are presented. The devices were optimized
for 1.55 μm wavelength detection. For device modeling the APSYS Crosslight software was
used. Simulated structure consists of separate absorption, charge and multiplication layers with
undepleted absorption region and thin charge layer. Based on numerical calculations, the device
characteristics like band diagram, dark current, photo current, gain, breakdown voltage and gain
bandwidth product were evaluated. The simulation results highlight importance of Zener effect in
avalanche photodiode operation.
References
[1]
Campbell, C.J. (2007) Recent Advances in Telecommunications Avalanche Photodiodes. IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology, 25, 109-121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JLT.2006.888481
[2]
McIntyre, R.J. (1966) Multiplication Noise in Uniform Avalanche Diodes. IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, ED-13,164-168. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/T-ED.1966.15651
[3]
Yuan, P., Hansig, C.C., Anselm, A., Lenox, C.C., Nie, H., Holmels, L.A., Streetman, B.G. and Campbell, C.J. (2000) Impact Ionization Characteristics of III-V Semiconductors for a Wide Range of Multiplication Region Thickness. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 36, 198-204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/3.823466
[4]
Crosslight Software Inc. http://www.crosslight.com/products/apsys.shtml
[5]
Haralson, J.N., Parks, J.W., Brennan, K.F., Clark, W. and Tarof, L.E. (1997) Numerical Simulation of Avalanche Breakdown within InP-InGaAs SAGCM Standoff Avalanche Photodiodes. IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology, 15, 2137-2140. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/50.641534
[6]
Xiao, Y.G., Li, Z.Q. and Simon Li, Z.M. (2007) Dynamic Drift-Diffusion Simulation of InP/InGaAs SAGCM APD. Physica Ststus Solidi (c), 4, 1641-1645. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pssc.200674253
[7]
Li, N., Sidhu, R., Li, X., Feng, M., Zheng, X., Shuling, W., Karve, G., Demiguel, S., Holmes, A.L. and Campbell, C.J. (2007) InGaAs/InAlAs Avalanche Photodiode with Undepleted Absorber. Applied Physics Letters, 82, 2175-2177.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1559437
