Abstract
Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are key optical receivers due to their performance advantages of high speed, high sensitivity, and low noise. The most critical device parameters of APD include the avalanche breakdown voltage and dark current. In this work, we study the temperature dependence of the breakdown voltage and dark current of the mesa-type APD over a wide temperature range of 20–145°C. We institute an empirical model based on impact ionization processes to account for the experimental data. It is shown that highly stable breakdown characteristics of mesa-type APD can be attained with the optimization of the multiplication layer design. We have achieved excellent stability of avalanche breakdown voltage with a temperature coefficient of 0.017 V/°C. The temperature dependence of dark current is attributed to generation-recombination mechanism. The bandgap energy is estimated to be about 0.71 eV based on the temperature variation of dark current, in good agreement with the value for InGaAs.
Highlights
Semiconductor photodiodes are important components for the high-sensitivity, low-noise receivers and detectors deployed in the 2.5, 10, and 25G optical communication systems such as passive optical network (PON) and local area networks (LAN) [1]
The first parameter is the avalanche breakdown voltage associated with the multiplication layer
We study the temperature dependence of breakdown voltage and dark current of the mesa-type Avalanche photodiodes (APDs)
Summary
Semiconductor photodiodes are important components for the high-sensitivity, low-noise receivers and detectors deployed in the 2.5, 10, and 25G optical communication systems such as passive optical network (PON) and local area networks (LAN) [1]. For APD, there are two critical device parameters for the reverse bias operation. The breakdown voltage is typically measured at reverse current of 10 μA. The second parameter is the dark current that is typically measured at reverse bias below the breakdown voltage. Since these two parameters strongly influence the device performance of the APD, it is important to understand the temperature dependence of these two parameters. We study the temperature dependence of breakdown voltage and dark current of the mesa-type APD. We experimentally measure the temperature variations of the breakdown voltage and dark current and compare the data with the modelling results based on depletion and impact ionization processes. We discuss the estimation of the energy bandgap using the dark current from the generation current model
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