Time and frequency response of avalanche photodiodes with arbitrary structure

Invited Review: Superlattice and multiquantum well avalanche photodetectors: physics, concepts and performance

“…Conventional APDs are defined as APDs in which multiplication occurs only within the depletion region of a simple p-i-n bulk semiconductor diode. Additionally, the noise properties of superlattice APDs have been examined by Teich et al [9,14,20], Matsuo et al [21], Kahraman et al [22], Hakim et al [23], Chakrabarti et al [24], Fyath et al [25,26] Van der Ziel et al [27], and Rajamani et al [28]. Superlattice APDs (SAPDs) [29] are comprised of alternating layers of variable bandgap semiconductors.…”

“…Several authors [22,[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61] have investigated the frequency response of APDs when both carriers contribute to the ionization process. Kahraman et al [22] have developed an analysis, based on the numerical solution of the coupled transport equations, that enables the calculation of the time response of APDs of arbitrary structure. They have found that the speed of an APD is governed by the response time, not the carrier transit time.…”

Statistical correlation of gain and buildup time in APDs and its effects on receiver performance

“…However, calculation of the second-order statistics of the impulse-response function are generally computationally intensive, with no known closed-form expressions available [15], [28]. As a result, simplifying assumptions that ignore the randomness in the shape of the impulse-response function are often practiced in the calculation of the photocurrent variance.…”

Performance of thin separate absorption, charge, and multiplication avalanche photodiodes

“…Hollenhorst introduced the transfer-matrix model to calculate steady-state gain and the excess noise factor for arbitrary APD structures [19]. Kahraman et al developed a more general matrix approach to analyze the frequency response of an APD with arbitrary structure [20]. In Hollenhorst's model, the device is divided into multiple layers that can each be approximated to have uniform electric fields.…”