Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Publication Date

2004

Publisher

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)

Source Publication

IEEE Electron Device Letters

Source ISSN

0741-3106

Abstract

Recently, it has been shown that the noise characteristics of heterojunction Al/sub 0.6/Ga/sub 0.4/As-GaAs avalanche photodiodes (APDs) can be optimized by proper selection of the width of the Al/sub 0.6/Ga/sub 0.4/As layer. Similar trends have also been shown theoretically for the bandwidth characteristics. The resulting noise reduction and potential bandwidth enhancement have been attributed to the fact that the high bandgap Al/sub 0.6/Ga/sub 0.4/As layer serves to energize the injected electrons, thereby minimizing their first dead space in the GaAs layer. We show theoretically that the same optimized structures yield optimal breakdown-probability characteristics when the APD is operated in Geiger mode. The steep breakdown-probability characteristics, as a function of the excess bias, of thick multiplication regions (e.g., in a 1000-nm GaAs homojunction) can be mimicked in much thinner optimized Al/sub 0.6/Ga/sub 0.4/As-GaAs APDs (e.g., in a 40-nm Al/sub 0.6/Ga/sub 0.4/As and 200-nm GaAs structure) with the added advantage of having a reduced breakdown voltage (e.g., from 36.5 V to 13.7 V).

Comments

Accepted version. IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 25, No. 9 (2004): 599-601. DOI. © 2004 Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). Used with permission.

Majeed M. Hayat was affiliated with University of New Mexico, Albuquerque at the time of publication.

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