Avalanche Noise Characteristics in Submicron InP Diodes

Author

Tan, L.J.J. ; Ng, J.S. ; Tan, C.H. ; David, J.P.R.

Author_Institution

Univ. of Sheffield, Sheffield

Volume

44

Issue

4

fYear

2008

fDate

4/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

378

Lastpage

382

Abstract

We report excess noise factors measured on a series of InP diodes with varying avalanche region thickness, covering a wide electric field range from 180 to 850 kV/cm. The increased significance of dead space in diodes with thin avalanche region thickness decreases the excess noise. An excess noise factor of F = 3.5 at multiplication factor M = 10 was measured, the lowest value reported so far for InP. The electric field dependence of impact ionization coefficients and threshold energies in InP have been determined using a non-local model to take into account the dead space effects. This work suggests that further optimization of InP separate absorption multiplication avalanche photodiodes (SAM APDs) could result in a noise performance comparable to InAlAs SAM APDs.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; avalanche photodiodes; electric fields; impact ionisation; indium compounds; semiconductor device models; semiconductor device noise; InAlAs; InP; SAM APD; avalanche noise; avalanche region thickness; dead space effects; electric field dependence; excess noise factors; impact ionization coefficients; nonlocal model; separate absorption multiplication avalanche photodiodes; submicron InP diodes; threshold energies; Absorption; Charge carrier processes; Diodes; Electric variables measurement; Impact ionization; Indium phosphide; Noise measurement; Optical noise; Semiconductor device noise; Thickness measurement; Avalanche multiplication; InP; dead space; excess noise; impact ionization; tunneling;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2007.914771

Filename

4456802