Low avalanche noise characteristics in thin InP p/sup +/-i-n/sup +/ diodes with electron initiated multiplication

Author

Li, K.F. ; Plimmer, S.A. ; David, J.P.R. ; Tozer, R.C. ; Rees, G.J. ; Robson, P.N. ; Button, C.C. ; Clark, J.C.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. & Electr. Eng., Sheffield Univ., UK

Volume

11

Issue

3

fYear

1999

fDate

3/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

364

Lastpage

366

Abstract

We have performed electron initiated avalanche noise measurements on a range of homojunction InP p/sup +/-i-n/sup +/ diodes with "i" region widths, w ranging from 2.40 to 0.24 μm. In contrast to McIntyre\´s noise model a significant reduction in the excess noise factor is observed with decreasing w at a constant multiplication in spite of /spl alpha/, the electron ionization coefficient being less than /spl beta/, the hole ionization coefficient. In the w=0.24 μm structure an effective /spl beta///spl alpha/ ratio of approximately 0.4 is deduced from the excess noise factor even when electrons initiate multiplication, suggesting that hole initiated multiplication is not always necessary for the lowest avalanche noise in InP-based avalanche photodiodes.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; avalanche breakdown; avalanche photodiodes; impact ionisation; indium compounds; p-i-n photodiodes; semiconductor device noise; InP; InP p/sup +/-i-n/sup +/ diode; avalanche noise; avalanche photodiode; electron initiated multiplication; electron ionization coefficient; excess noise factor; hole ionization coefficient; homojunction; Avalanche photodiodes; Charge carrier processes; Diodes; Electrons; Indium phosphide; Ionization; Noise measurement; Noise reduction; Performance evaluation; Signal to noise ratio;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.748237

Filename

748237