Avalanche Photodetector Based on InAs/InSb Superlattice

Abstract

This work demonstrates a mid-wavelength infrared InAs/InSb superlattice avalanche photodiode (APD). The superlattice APD structure was grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaSb substrate. The device exhibits a 100 % cut-off wavelength of 4.6 µm at 150 K and 4.30 µm at 77 K. At 150 and 77 K, the device responsivity reaches peak values of 2.49 and 2.32 A/W at 3.75 µm under −1.0 V applied bias, respectively. The device reveals an electron dominated avalanching mechanism with a gain value of 6 at 150 K and 7.4 at 77 K which was observed under −6.5 V bias voltage. The gain value was measured at different temperatures and different diode sizes. The electron and hole impact ionization coefficients were calculated and compared to give a better prospect of the performance of the device.

Study of HgCdTe (100) and HgCdTe (111)B Heterostructures Grown by MOCVD and Their Potential Application to APDs Operating in the IR Range up to 8 µm

“…Table 3 presents SWIR [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ], MWIR [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 ] (PIN, SAM and SACM) state-of-art and LWIR, λ ~ 8 μm (230 K) HgCdTe SAM APDs based devices to include maximum gain ( M ), impact ionization ratio ( k ), excess noise factor F ( M ) and dark current mostly at M = 10. As presented, the majority of the published papers corresponds to the T = 300 K and SWIR range.…”

“…The promising results were presented by Li et al reporting on MWIR λ = 5 μm, T = 200 K (4-stage TE cooling) k = 0.097, M = 29 and F ( M ) = 4.98 AlAsSb/GaSb SL SAM device [ 46 ]. The MWIR λ = 4.6 μm, T = 150 K InAs/InSb SL PIN device was presented by Dehzangi et al reporting on k = 0.27, M = 6 and F ( M ) = 2.95 [ 45 ]. The impact ionization coefficient for that structure is acceptable, but it is still much greater than the reported cases for HgCdTe and T2SLs InAs/GaSb APDs ( k < 0.001) [ 48 ].…”

“…The discrepancy in the measured and theoretically estimated F ( M ) is related to the “ dead space ” effect where the carriers must travel a minimum distance before they can gain enough energy to impact ionize, whereas McIntyre theory assumes the impact ionization to be dependent only on the electric field of the carrier’s current position. The AlAsSb/GaSb SL [ 46 ] SAM carrier ionization ratio assumes k ~ 0.097 at 200 K, which is smaller than the value of k ~ 0.27 achieved for InAs/InSb SL [ 45 ] PIN.…”

Advances in Mid-Infrared Single-Photon Detection

“…High-frequency gating (sinusoidal gating [63,64], a self-differing technique [65,66]), can reduce the after-pulses probability since it reduces the total charge flow generated during an avalanche event, maintaining high detection rates at the same time. Recently, new studies are emerging on materials and superlattices, such as HgCdTe [67], InAs/InSb [68], AlAsSb/GaSb [69], which can extend the detection range of SPADs to MIR. However, significantly lower cooling temperatures (≈80 K) are required to suppress the dark current due to the low energy bandgap [67,70], resulting in increased costs and complexity of such devices.…”

2μm-compatible avalanche photodetector using Sb-based superlattice

“…However, they must operate at cryogenic temperatures to reduce dark currents due to their narrow band gap. Mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) APDs based on groups III-V, such as InAs/InSb superlattices (SLs) 5 , have been demonstrated. However, their performance, especially the excess noise factor, is limited by the relatively small difference in ionization rates of electrons and holes.…”