Title :
Excess noise in GaAs avalanche photodiodes with thin multiplication regions
Author :
Hu, C. ; Anselm, K.A. ; Streetman, B.G. ; Campbell, J.C.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Texas Univ., Austin, TX, USA
fDate :
7/1/1997 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
It is well known that the gain-bandwidth product of an avalanche photodiode can be increased by utilizing a thin multiplication region. Previously, measurements of the excess noise factor of InP-InGaAsP-InGaAs avalanche photodiodes with separate absorption and multiplication regions indicated that this approach could also be employed to reduce the multiplication noise. This paper presents a systematic study of the noise characteristics of GaAs homojunction avalanche photodiodes with different multiplication layer thicknesses. It is demonstrated that there is a definite “size effect” for multiplication regions less than approximately 0.5 μm. A good fit to the experimental data has been achieved using a discrete, nonlocalized model for the impact ionization process
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; avalanche photodiodes; gallium arsenide; impact ionisation; optical receivers; p-i-n photodiodes; semiconductor device models; semiconductor device noise; size effect; 0.1 to 0.8 mum; GaAs; GaAs avalanche photodiodes; discrete nonlocalized model; excess noise factor; gain-bandwidth product; homojunction avalanche photodiodes; impact ionization process; multiplication layer thickness; multiplication noise; noise characteristics; optical fiber receiver sensitivity; p-i-n structure; size effect; thin multiplication regions; Absorption; Avalanche photodiodes; Bandwidth; Charge carrier processes; Gallium arsenide; Impact ionization; Noise reduction; Optical fibers; Performance gain; Quantum well devices;
Journal_Title :
Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of
