Low Multiplication Noise Thin Avalanche Photodiodes

Abstract— Avalanche multiplication and excess noise weremeasured on a series of Al 0 6 Ga 0 4 As p + in + and n + ip + diodes,with avalanche region thickness, ranging from 0.026 m to 0.85m. The results show that the ionization coefficient for electronsis slightly higher than for holes in thick, bulk material. At fixedmultiplication values the excess noise factor was found to decreasewith decreasing , irrespective of injected carrier type. Owingto the wide Al 0 6 Ga 0 4 As bandgap extremely thin devices cansustain very high electric fields, giving rise to very low excess noisefactors, of around 3.3 at a multiplication factor of 15.5in the structure with = 0.026 m. This is the lowest reportedexcess noise at this value of multiplication for devices grown onGaAs substrates. Recursion equation modeling, using both ahard threshold dead space model and one which incorporatesthe detailed history of the ionizing carriers, is used to model thenonlocal nature of impact ionization giving rise to the reductionin excess noise with decreasing . Although the hard thresholddead space model could reproduce qualitatively the experimentalresults better agreement was obtained from the history-dependentmodel.Index Terms— Al Ga

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