Hot electron transport and impact ionization in the narrow energy gap InAs1−xNx alloy

Abstract

We report an experimental study of hot electron dynamics in the narrow band gap dilute nitride alloy, InAs1−xNx, with x up to 0.6%. The sharp increase in the conductivity of n-type InAs1−xNx at applied electric fields above 1 kV/cm demonstrates that impact ionization dominates the hot electron dynamics. This observation, combined with the reduction in the band gap energy by the N-atoms, suggest prospects for the use of this narrow gap alloy in infrared avalanche photodiodes.