Fig. 1.
(Color online) Cross-sectional view of the double-mesa InGaAs/ AlGaAsSb SAGCM APD.
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Journal of Semiconductors
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2025
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| Citation: |
Yuhang He, Rui Wang, Yan Liang, Yingqiang Xu, Guowei Wang, Haiqiao Ni, Shuo Wang, Zhichuan Niu, Xiaohong Yang. Mesa-structured AlGaAsSb APD: dark current and noise analysis[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2025, In Press. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/25020025
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Y H He, R Wang, Y Liang, Y Q Xu, G W Wang, H Q Ni, S Wang, Z C Niu, and X H Yang, Mesa-structured AlGaAsSb APD: dark current and noise analysis[J]. J. Semicond., 2025, 46(11), 112401 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/25020025
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Mesa-structured AlGaAsSb APD: dark current and noise analysis
DOI: 10.1088/1674-4926/25020025
CSTR: 32376.14.1674-4926.25020025
More Information-
Yuhang He got his bachelor’s degree in 2022 from Shijiazhuang Tiedao University. Now he is a master student at Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences under the supervision of Prof. YANG Xiaohong. His research focuses on low-noise near-infrared avalanche photodiodes -
Xiaohong Yang received her doctoral degree from the Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, in 2001. She is currently a Senior Researcher at the institute. Her research focuses on semiconductor photodetection devices - Corresponding author: xhyang@semi.ac.cn
- Revised Date: 2025-05-05 Available Online: 2025-05-14
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Abstract
Avalanche photodiode (APD) is a kind of photodetector with important applications in optical communication, LIDAR and other fields. APDs fabricated using the recently developed AlGaAsSb as the multiplication material exhibit excellent noise performance. In this work, we report a low-noise separate absorption, grading, charge, and multiplication (SAGCM) InGaAs/AlGaAsSb APD operating at 1550 nm. A double-mesa structure was fabricated to reduce the dark current. Numerical simulations were conducted to compare two different mesa-structured APDs. By analyzing the electric field distribution, it was found that the electric field at the edge of the multiplication region in the double-mesa APD is nearly 100 kV/cm lower than that of the single-mesa structure. Experimental results demonstrate that after device punch-through, the double-mesa APD’s dark current can be reduced by up to four times compared to the single-mesa APD. Quantitative analysis of the dark current components in the AlGaAsSb APD further confirms that the low sidewall electric field in the double-mesa structure effectively suppresses the trap-assisted tunneling. Additionally, noise measurements indicate a k-value of approximately 0.014, which is significantly lower than that of traditional multiplication materials. This work provides preliminary validation for further performance improvements in low noise and low dark current AlGaAsSb APDs.-
Keywords:
- Avalanche photodiode,
- dark current,
- excess noise
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References
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Proportional views
§Yuhang He, Rui Wang, and Yan Liang contributed equally to this work and should be considered as co-first authors.
