Fabrication and performance of high speed InGaAs APDs
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Over the last several years, the technology for fabrication of long wavelength avalanche photodiodes (APDs) has matured considerably. APDs are now in volume manufacture and have become the detector of choice for most long haul high-bit-rate applications.1 These applications place stringent demands on such device parameters as dark current, bandwidth, gain uniformity, and operating lifetime. These requirements often conflict with one another and severely constrain the device structure. Meeting the requirements at high yield demands careful optimization of the epitaxial material structure, device design, and fabrication process.Keywords:
APDS
Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) will be used in the muonic helium Lamb shift experiment for detection of 8 keV X-rays. Reach-through APDs (RT-APDs) from Hamamatsu Photonics have been investigated for X-ray detection as an alternative to conventional APDs. In order to understand the behavior of the energy resolution obtained in a RT-APD for 8 keV X-rays, the APD response to visible light pulses from a LED has also been investigated. The gain non-uniformity is determined from the comparison of the energy resolution obtained for X-rays and light pulses. In addition, the measurement of the electronic noise contribution allows the determination of the excess noise factor. Results at different temperatures are shown.
APDS
Photodiode
Single-photon avalanche diode
Lamb shift
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Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are the preferred photodetectors for direct-detection, high data-rate long-haul optical telecommunications. APDs can detect low-level optical signals due to their internal amplification of the photon-generated electrical current, which is attributable to the avalanche of electron and hole impact ionizations. Despite recent advances in APDs aimed at reducing the average avalanche-buildup time, which causes intersymbol interference and compromises receiver sensitivity at high data rates, operable speeds of commercially available APDs have been limited to 10Gbps. We report the first demonstration of a dynamically biased APD that breaks the traditional sensitivity-versus-speed limit by employing a data-synchronous sinusoidal reverse-bias that drastically suppresses the average avalanche-buildup time. Compared with traditional DC biasing, the sensitivity of germanium APDs at 3Gbps is improved by 4.3 dB, which is equivalent to a 3,500-fold reduction in the bit-error rate. The method is APD-type agnostic and it promises to enable operation at rates of 25Gbps and beyond.
APDS
Silicon Photomultiplier
Biasing
Avalanche diode
Single-photon avalanche diode
Photodiode
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We report the gain, noise, and dark current characteristics of random alloy Al0.79In0.21As0.74Sb0.26 (hereafter AlInAsSb)-based avalanche photodiodes (APDs) on InP substrates. We observe, at room temperature, a low excess noise corresponding to a k value (ratio of impact ionization coefficients) of 0.018 and a dark current density of 82 μA/cm2 with a gain of 15. These performance metrics represent an order of magnitude improvement of the k-value over commercially available APDs with InAlAs and InP multiplication layers grown on InP substrates. This material is also competitive with a recently reported low noise AlAsSb on InP [Yi et al., Nat. Photonics 13, 683 (2019)], with a comparable excess noise and a room temperature dark current density almost three orders of magnitude lower at the same gain. The low excess noise and dark current of AlInAsSb make it a candidate multiplication layer for integration into a separate absorption, charge, and multiplication layer avalanche photodiode for visible to short-wavelength infrared applications.
APDS
Impact ionization
Photodiode
Single-photon avalanche diode
Indium gallium arsenide
Indium phosphide
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Understanding detailed avalanche mechanisms is critical for design optimization of avalanche photodiodes (APDs). In this work, avalanche characteristics and single photon counting performance of 4H-SiC n-i-p and p-i-n APDs are compared. By studying the evolution of breakdown voltage as a function of incident light wavelength, it is confirmed that at the deep ultraviolet (UV) wavelength region the avalanche events in 4H-SiC n-i-p APDs are mainly induced by hole-initiated ionization, while electron-initiated ionization is the main cause of avalanche breakdown in 4H-SiC p-i-n APDs. Meanwhile, at the same dark count rate, the single photon counting efficiency of n-i-p APDs is considerably higher than that of p-i-n APDs. The higher performance of n-i-p APDs can be explained by the larger impact ionization coefficient of holes in 4H-SiC. In addition, this is the first time, to the best of our knowledge, to report single photon detection performance of vertical 4H-SiC n-i-p-n APDs.
APDS
Single-photon avalanche diode
Geiger counter
Impact ionization
Avalanche breakdown
Photon Counting
Avalanche diode
Electron avalanche
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Avalanche photodiodes(APDs) have attracted more and more attention due to their single photon detection ability. However, low dark current is a prerequisite for APDs which are used as single photon avalanche photodiodes (SPADs).In this work,Planar-type Separate Absorption Grading Charge Multiplication(SAGCM) InP/InGaAs APD are fabricated and simulated with ISE-TCAD. We present a detailed analysis of dark current and gain experimentally and theoretically. The effect of the generation-recombination process,the tunneling process,the surface leakage process and the multiplication process on the total dark current are discussed.The dark current gain ratio (Id/M) is used to demonstrate the tunneling current. Simulation results indicate that the thickness of multiplication and trap-assisted tunneling effect have a great influence on the tunneling current:thin multiplication layer and traps will lead to a substantial increase in the tunneling current component, therefore appropriate multiplication layer thickness and low traps are necessary to obtain good APDs with low dark current. Compared with the simulation results,it shows that our APDs have low tunneling current even at breakdown point.In addition, the distinctions between different process of dark current provide a good guidance for the optimization of the APD.
APDS
Single-photon avalanche diode
Avalanche diode
Indium gallium arsenide
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The performance of high-operating-temperature (HOT) longwavelength infrared (LWIR) HgCdTe avalanche photodiodes (APDs) is significantly limited by the increasing dark current related to temperature. In this paper, a novel barrier-blocking LWIR pBp-APD structure is proposed and studied, and the results show that the dark current of pBp-APD is significantly restricted compared with conventional APD without sacrificing the gain at high temperature. Furthermore, the reduction of avalanche dark current is found to be the key points of the significant suppression of dark current. The physical essence of this reduction is revealed to be the depletion of carriers in the absorption region, and the feasibility of the improved structure is further confirmed by the analysis of its energy band and electric field distribution. In addition, the reduction of gain-normalized dark current (GNDC) does not need to sacrifice the gain. The proposed LWIR pBp-APD paves the way for development of high operation temperature infrared APDs.
APDS
Photodiode
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We describe new high-resolution depth-of-interaction (DOI) PET detector designs based on avalanche photodiodes (APDs). With the development of APDs which utilize thin drift regions to speed response time, these detectors promise improved timing performance relative to previously reported APD-based DOI detectors. The new designs also offer improved decoding of smaller crystals at room temperature through the use of a combination of position-sensitive APDs and pixellated APDs. The number of read-out channels for these designs is kept much smaller than the number of scintillator crystals by ganging together APD outputs in an encoding pattern which still allows for the correct identification of the crystal-of-interaction
APDS
Photodiode
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In this paper, both planar and mesa homojunction p-i-n HgCdTe electron-avalanche photodiodes (e-APDs) are fabricated and investigated-to better understand the dark current transport and electron-avalanche mechanisms of the devices and optimize the structures. The experiment results are agreed well by simulated I-V characteristics based on established numerical models. Our results show that the multiplication region fabrication process leads to enormous characteristic difference between planar and mesa diodes. Shockley-Read-Hall and trap-assisted tunneling current are the main components of dark current for the planar/mesa junction under low bias voltage, and dark current is mainly influenced by band-to-band tunneling and avalanche current when higher reverse bias is added. In addition, we found that the difference between the uniformity of the electric field distributions in multiplication regions is the primary reason for the differences of the dark current. It was also proved that the dark current of planar e-APDs is dramatically affected by the junction corners, and mesa e-APDs dark current is found to be greatly dependent on the multiplication region thickness. Our work provides a great deal of theoretical basis for dark current formation and the avalanche mechanism of HgCdTe e-APDs.
APDS
Single-photon avalanche diode
Avalanche breakdown
Avalanche diode
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APDS
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APDS
Single-photon avalanche diode
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