TITLE:
Zener Phenomena in InGaAs/InAlAs/InP Avalanche Photodiodes
AUTHORS:
Dariusz Żak, Jarosław Jureńczyk, Janusz Kaniewski
KEYWORDS:
Avalanche Photodiode, InGaAs, Modeling
JOURNAL NAME:
Detection,
Vol.2 No.2,
April
14,
2014
ABSTRACT: Avalanche photodiodes are widely utilized in research, military and commercial applications
which make them attractive for further development. In this paper the results of numerical simulations
of uncooled InGaAs/InAlAs/InP based photodiodes are presented. The devices were optimized
for 1.55 μm wavelength detection. For device modeling the APSYS Crosslight software was
used. Simulated structure consists of separate absorption, charge and multiplication layers with
undepleted absorption region and thin charge layer. Based on numerical calculations, the device
characteristics like band diagram, dark current, photo current, gain, breakdown voltage and gain
bandwidth product were evaluated. The simulation results highlight importance of Zener effect in
avalanche photodiode operation.