Temperature dependence of the dark current and activation energy at avalanche onset of GaN avalanche photodiodes

Abstract

We report a study of the performance of an avalanche photodiode (APD) as a function of temperature from 564 K to 74 K. The dark current at avalanche onset decreases from 564 K to 74 K by approximately a factor of 125 and from 300 K to 74K the dark current at avalanche offset is reduced by a factor of about 10. The drop would have been considerably larger if the activation energy at avalanche onset (E_a) did not also decrease with decreasing temperature. These data give us insights into how to improve the single-photon counting performance of a GaN based ADP.