Dead-space effect on noise in Si UV-selective avalanche photodiode

In the recent years, a great deal of research has been devoted to dead-space effects in avalanche photodiodes (APD) with submicron multiplication regions. Measurements and theoretical models have shown that the multiplication noise in SAM-APDs and in GaAs and InP p₊ in⁺ APDs decreases when the thickness of the multiplication layer is reduced. We present excess noise measurements of a Si ultraviolet-selective (UVS) APD with a 100 nm thick multiplication region. We show that these results are in excellent agreement with simulations using the dead-space model. The excess noise of our structure is much smaller than predicted by McIntyre´s continuum theory