Avalanche Photodiodes With Dual Multiplication Layers and Ultra-High Responsivity-Bandwidth Products for FMCW Lidar System Applications

Ahmad, Zohauddin; Kuo, Sheng-I; Chang, You-Chia; Chao, Rui-Lin; Lee, Yi-Shan; Hung, Yung‐Jr; Chen, Huang-Ming; Chen, Jason; Goh, C.S.; Shi, Jin‐Wei

doi:10.1109/jstqe.2021.3062637

Cited by 20 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, the extra carrier multiplication process inside the APD slows down the internal carrier transit time, usually resulting in a smaller saturation current than that of the p-i-n PD [6,7], which impeded its application in the self-heterodyne FMCW lidar system. Compared to our previous work [8,9], in this work, we demonstrate the In0.52 Al0.48 As based vertical-illuminated APD with a novel design in the multiplication region and quadruple mesa shape which can effectively shorten the internal avalanche delay time and suppress the edge breakdown, respectively. As a consequence, a significant reduction in the dark current and higher saturation output photocurrent can be simultaneously achieved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…The received optical power represents the optical power measured at the 3rd port of the circulator, as shown in Figure 7. Compared to the SNR measurements reported in our previous work [8], here, the low-noise RF amplifier (LNA), which is integrated with the output of APD, has been removed. A strong optical LO signal is adopted to maximize the magnitude of the IF signal output from the APD directly without using any electrical amplifier.…”

Section: Fmcw Lidar Measurement Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The modulation conditions (amplitude and frequency of square wave for laser driving) of the wavelength sweeping laser have been adjusted to keep the IF down-converted signal (~1 GHz) within the bandwidth limitations of our APD (1 GHz). For the case where an APD is integrated with RF LNA, there is a reduction in the optical LO power from 3.5 to 0.5 mW for the optimized S/N ratio [8]. As can be seen in Figures 15 (a), by increasing the optical LO pumping to 3.5 mW, a clear 2-D image can be constructed without the use of an additional electrical amplifier (LNA).…”

Section: Snr (Db)mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…In addition to the receiver, the transmitter side also plays an important role in the FMCW lidar system. For details about our wavelength sweeping laser module the interested reader can refer to our previous work [8,17]. Under strong current modulation, the DFB laser can have significant frequency modulation (FM) due to the linewidth enhancement effect.…”

Section: Figures 4 and 5 Shows The Bias-dependent O-e Frequency Responses Of Device A Measured Under Low (1 µW)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figures 1 (a) and (b) shows the conceptual crosssectional view of the APD mesa structures adopted in this work (device A) and in our previous work (device B) [8]. For clarity, note that Figure 1 is not drawn to scale and that both devices share the same epi-layer structures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 4 more Smart Citations

High-Power and High-Responsivity Avalanche Photodiodes for Self-Heterodyne FMCW Lidar System Applications

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this work, we demonstrate the high-power and high-responsivity performance of the dual multiplication (M-) layers in In0.52 Al0.48 As based avalanche photodiode (APD). The dual M-layer design in our APD structure effectively constrains the multiplication process to a thin high-field region rather than the whole thick M-layer. It thus minimizes the space charge effect (SCE) within and avoids increasing the tunneling dark current for the case of directly shrinking M-layer thickness in APD. Furthermore, by combining the specially designed mesa shape with this dual M-layer structure, the edge breakdown can be well suppressed. These benefits lead to an ultra-high gain-bandwidth product (450 GHz; 1 A/W at unit gain) and a high saturation current (>12 mA) can be simultaneously achieved in our device. By nonlinearly driving a wavelength sweeping laser in the self-heterodyne lidar setup, it can generate an optical pulse train-like waveform, providing an effective optical modulation depth of 200% to feed into our demonstrated APD at the receiver-end. Under such scheme, the photo-generated RF (1 GHz) power from our APD with a 6.3 A/W responsivity can be as high as +6.95 dBm at a high (7 mA) output photocurrent. Such high-power and highresponsivity characteristics of our APD can further improve the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and dynamic range performances in each pixel of the lidar image. A high-quality 3-dimensional (D) FMCW lidar image is constructed based on our APD, without the integration of any electrical amplifier at the receiver end.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Fmcw Lidar Measurement Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Snr (Db)mentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Figures 4 and 5 Shows The Bias-dependent O-e Frequency Responses Of Device A Measured Under Low (1 µW)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 3 more Smart Citations

High-Power and High-Responsivity Avalanche Photodiodes for Self-Heterodyne FMCW Lidar System Applications

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Enhanced initial photocurrent caused by the multiplication process at punch-through voltage in InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode with highly doped charge layer

Liu

Shi

Gao

2022

Infrared Physics & Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Avalanche photodiodes with multiple multiplication layers for coherent detection

Ahmad

Wang

Naseem

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We demonstrate a novel avalanche photodiode (APD) design which fundamentally relaxes the trade-off between responsivity and saturation-current performance at receiver end in coherent system. Our triple In0.52Al0.48As based multiplication (M-) layers with a stepped electric (E-) field inside has more pronounced avalanche process with significantly less effective critical-field than the dual M-layer. Reduced E-field in active M-layers ensures stronger E-field allocation to the thick absorption-layer with a smaller breakdown voltage (Vbr) resulting in less serious space-charge screening effect, less device heating at high output photocurrent. Compared to the dual M-layer reference sample, the demonstrated APD exhibits lower punch-through (− 9 vs. − 24 V)/breakdown voltages (− 43 vs. − 51 V), higher responsivity (19.6 vs. 13.5 A/W), higher maximum gain (230 vs. 130), and higher 1-dB saturation-current (> 5.6 vs. 2.5 mA) under 0.95 Vbr operation. Extremely high saturation-current (> 14.6 mA), high responsivity (7.3 A/W), and decent O-E bandwidth (1.4 GHz) can be simultaneously achieved using the demonstrated APD with a 200 µm active window diameter. In coherent FMCW LiDAR test bed, this novel APD exhibits a larger signal-to-noise ratio and high-quality 3-D images than the reference dual M-layer and high-performance commercial p-i-n PD modules, while requiring significantly less optical local-oscillator (LO) power (0.5 vs 4 mW).

show abstract

Avalanche Photodiodes With Dual Multiplication Layers and Ultra-High Responsivity-Bandwidth Products for FMCW Lidar System Applications

Cited by 20 publications

References 29 publications

High-Power and High-Responsivity Avalanche Photodiodes for Self-Heterodyne FMCW Lidar System Applications

High-Power and High-Responsivity Avalanche Photodiodes for Self-Heterodyne FMCW Lidar System Applications

Enhanced initial photocurrent caused by the multiplication process at punch-through voltage in InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode with highly doped charge layer

Avalanche photodiodes with multiple multiplication layers for coherent detection

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About