The effects of nonlocal impact ionization on the speed of avalanche photodiodes

Hambleton, P.J.; Ng, B. K.; Plimmer, S.A.; David, J.P.R.; Rees, G.J.

doi:10.1109/ted.2002.808523

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…(5b) to find (5), shown at the bottom of the page. Here the are as defined earlier and given by (3).…”

Section: Mean Squared Current Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, our modeling work [3]- [6], [11]- [13] predicts that those carriers which ionise at a distance shortly after the ballistic dead space, travel to this early ionization event at an average speed which is considerably higher than for carriers which ionise further downstream. We expect the effect to be important in thin APDs and that it more than compensates [5] for the slowing effect of dead space [1] which increases the number of carrier excursions back and forth across the multiplication region to maintain gain [7].…”

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confidence: 99%

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Exponential Time Response in Analogue and Geiger Mode Avalanche Photodiodes

Groves

Tan

David

et al. 2005

IEEE Trans. Electron Devices

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Abstract-The mean avalanche current impulse response in an avalanche photodiode exhibits an initial transient and then grows or decays, above or below breakdown, at exponential rates which depend only on the probability distributions of the electron and hole ionization events. The process continues while the electric field profile remains unchanged by the applied bias or the evolving space charge. Below breakdown the distribution in the avalanche duration also exhibits an initial transient and then decays exponentially at the same rate as the mean current. Below breakdown the standard deviation in current decays exponentially at one half of the rate of the mean current, while above breakdown it grows exponentially at the same rate as the mean. Consequently the jitter in a Geiger mode avalanche photodiode becomes independent of time after the initial transients have decayed away. This behavior is quite general and independent of the electric field profile or of the presence of heterojunctions in the multiplication region. Using simple models for carrier transport we find the predicted enhancement in the velocity to ionization of those carriers which ionise shortly after their ballistic dead space significantly speeds up the avalanche dynamics in short devices.

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“…(5b) to find (5), shown at the bottom of the page. Here the are as defined earlier and given by (3).…”

Section: Mean Squared Current Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Exponential Time Response in Analogue and Geiger Mode Avalanche Photodiodes

Groves

Tan

David

et al. 2005

IEEE Trans. Electron Devices

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“…Moreover, those carriers that impact ionize early on are found to possess speeds well above the saturated drift velocities [18]. In fact, Hambleton et al showed that this velocity-enhancement effect actually overcompensates for the dead-space effect [19]. In this paper, we show that the buildup time can be further reduced by considering a heterojunction multiplication region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Gain-bandwidth product optimization of heterostructure avalanche photodiodes

Hayat

Campbell

Saleh

et al. 2005

J. Lightwave Technol.

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Abstract-A generalized history-dependent recurrence theory for the time-response analysis is derived for avalanche photodiodes with multilayer, heterojunction multiplication regions. The heterojunction multiplication region considered consists of two layers: a high-bandgap Al 0 6 Ga 0 4 As energy-buildup layer, which serves to heat up the primary electrons, and a GaAs layer, which serves as the primary avalanching layer. The model is used to optimize the gain-bandwidth product (GBP) by appropriate selection of the width of the energy-buildup layer for a given width of the avalanching layer. The enhanced GBP is a direct consequence of the heating of primary electrons in the energy-buildup layer, which results in a reduced first dead space for the carriers that are injected into the avalanche-active GaAs layer. This effect is akin to the initial-energy effect previously shown to enhance the excess-noise factor characteristics in thin avalanche photodiodes (APDs). Calculations show that the GBP optimization is insensitive to the operational gain and the optimized APD also minimizes the excess-noise factor.

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“…Despite its extreme simplicity this SMC model has proved capable of reproducing, at least qualitatively, many of the critical features of impact ionization and avalanche processes, including shapes of ionization path length pdf 34,36 , multiplication 34,36,37 , noise 34,36,37 , temporal behaviour 38,39 and temperature dependence of avalanche multiplication 40 .…”

Section: Monte Carlo Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Excess noise characteristics of single heterojunction AlxGa1-xAs-GaAs avalanche photodiodes

et al. 2004

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A simple Monte Carlo model is used to simulate excess noise characteristics of a range of Al 0.6 Ga 0.4 As -GaAs single heterojunction APDs in which the heterojunction is located at varying positions within the avalanche region. Excess noise is shown to depend critically upon the length of Al 0.6 Ga 0.4 As layer. The present results suggest that to achieve the lowest noise the Al 0.6 Ga 0.4 As layer must be sufficiently long to allow primary electrons to heat up and able to ionize as soon as they cross into the GaAs, but not so long as to allow significant hole ionization in the Al 0.6 Ga 0.4 As layer, which leads to noisy feedback processes. The excess noise characteristics of a range of Al x Ga 1-x As -GaAs (x = 0.3, 0.45 and 0.6) single heterojunction APDs are measured experimentally. The excess noise is shown to increase with x, which is explained in terms of an increase in the hole ionization coefficient leading to increased noisy feedback chains.

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The effects of nonlocal impact ionization on the speed of avalanche photodiodes

Cited by 12 publications

References 16 publications

Exponential Time Response in Analogue and Geiger Mode Avalanche Photodiodes

Exponential Time Response in Analogue and Geiger Mode Avalanche Photodiodes

Gain-bandwidth product optimization of heterostructure avalanche photodiodes

Excess noise characteristics of single heterojunction AlxGa1-xAs-GaAs avalanche photodiodes

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