Title :
High responsivity GaInAs PIN photodiode by using erbium gettering
Author :
Ho, Wen-Jeng ; Wu, Meng-Chyi ; Tu, Yuan-Kuang ; Shih, Hung-Hui
Author_Institution :
Res. Inst. of Electr. Eng., Nat. Tsing Hua Univ., Hsinchu, Taiwan
fDate :
4/1/1995 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
In this article, we grow the GaInAs layers by introducing the rare-earth element Er into the GaInAs solutions for liquid-phase epitaxy without any complicated processes or an extended bakeout of the growth melts. The dominant process occurring during the growth of GaInAs layers in the presence of Er is a very efficient gettering of residual donors. By using an Er-doped GaInAs layer as the intrinsic layer in the PIN structure, the room temperature front-illuminated PIN photodiodes exhibit good quantum efficiencies of 60% at 1.3 μm and 83% at 1.6 μm for devices with antireflection coatings, which are better than those of 52% at 1.3 μm and 65% at 1.6 μm for the front-illuminated devices without Er doping and comparable to those of 63% at 1.3 μm and 74% at 1.6 μm for commercially available back-illuminated photodiodes. These devices also have a rise time of 88 ps and a pulsewidth of 162 ps for response speed and useful sensitivity to about 3.6 GHz. The detectors respond to pseudo-random modulation at bit rates up to 2.5 Gb/s with a clear eye opening and error free
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; antireflection coatings; erbium; gallium compounds; getters; indium compounds; liquid phase epitaxial growth; p-i-n photodiodes; semiconductor doping; semiconductor growth; 1.3 to 1.6 micron; 162 ps; 2.5 Gbit/s; 3.6 GHz; 60 to 83 percent; 88 ps; Er gettering; Er-doped GaInAs layer; GaInAs layer growth; GaInAs:Er; LPE growth; PIN photodiode; antireflection coatings; front-illuminated photodiodes; high responsivity; intrinsic layer; liquid-phase epitaxy; room temperature; Bit rate; Coatings; Detectors; Doping; Epitaxial growth; Erbium; Gettering; PIN photodiodes; Space vector pulse width modulation; Temperature;
Journal_Title :
Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on