The performance of the photodetector is often the primary limiting factor affecting a free space communication or LiDAR system's sensitivity. Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) can be used to improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR) compared to conventional p-i-n photodiodes. Our study focuses on demonstrating an APD operating in the eye-safe short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectrum (>1400 nm) with high multiplication (M>1200) and low excess noise (F<7 at M=200) at room temperature. This device utilizes GaAsSb and Al0.85Ga0.15AsSb in a separate absorber, charge, and multiplication (SACM) configuration on an InP substrate. Notably, this device exhibits more than 40 times improvement in maximum achievable multiplication and 6.5 times lower excess noise at M=25 compared to commercially available InGaAs/InP devices.
Sensing and imaging applications such as light detection and ranging (LiDAR) require a receiver with highly sensitive photodetectors such as avalanche photodiodes (APDs), which have high gain and speed. Conventionally, APDs use mesa structures that limit device scaling due to increased surface leakage current at smaller sizes. Planar-architectured APDs address high surface leakage current by reducing the exposed surface of the devices. They also eliminate complicated mesa fabrication steps such as mesa etching and passivation. Fabrication of APDs with planar architecture conventionally uses processes such as ion-implantation, which can damage the epitaxially-grown material, and metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), which can be expensive and time-consuming. In this paper, we assess an alternative fabrication process to make APDs using Zn diffusion into epitaxially-grown material stacks through atomic layer deposition (ALD) of ZnO. In particular, we have explored Zn diffusion in epitaxially grown type-II InGaAs/GaAsSb superlattice on InP substrates. ZnO was grown with various thicknesses on the epitaxial stack using ALD, and the Zn was diffused into the stack using a diffusion furnace under forming gas. The effects of the diffusion process were investigated using various characterization techniques, including x-ray diffraction, and secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The optimized Zn-diffusion process is then used to make planar diodes. Further optimization of this diffusion process may lead to a rapid, manufacturable, and cost-effective method of developing planar APDs.
We investigate the origin of dark current by studying the bulk and surface recombination mechanisms using temperaturedependent minority carrier lifetime measurements of GaAsSb p-i-n devices. We measure the equilibrium carrier concentration (background doping concentration) by transient microwave reflectance and compare with capacitancevoltage measurements. Room temperature minority carrier lifetime results are presented, as well as initial low temperature measurements.
An ensemble Monte Carlo framework is used to compare the impact ionization behavior important to avalanche photodiode (APD) performance in a band-engineered InAlAs/InAsSb type-II superlattice with same-energy gap bulk InAs and HgCdTe at 250 K. Impact ionization rates are computed directly from the electronic band structures. The same stochastic transport kernel is used for each material for consistency. A realistic treatment of impact ionization initial and final carrier states is employed in the transport simulations that considers energy and crystal momentum conservation. The major effects of band features on carrier states, transit path lengths between impact ionization events, and impact ionization coefficients support the role of band engineering in materials selection for high-performance APDs.
Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) capable of operating at telecommunication wavelengths usually utilize an InGaAs absorber and a multiplication region of InP or InAlAs. Since the electron and hole ionization coefficients (α and β respectively) in these multiplication regions are very similar they suffer from high excess noise, limiting their sensitivity. In recent years, there have been a number of reports of Sb containing III-V semiconductor alloys that appear to show very low excess noise characteristics, similar to or better than that obtained in silicon. These reports show that AlInAsSb grown on GaSb appears to show a β/α ratio of ~0.015. Both AlAsSb and Al0.85Ga0.15As0.56Sb0.44 grown lattice matched on InP also show β/α values that vary from 0.005-0.01. The exception to this appears to be AlGaAsSb grown lattice matched on GaSb where a β/α ratio of ~2.5 has been seen. This paper reviews the published results in this area.
Background doping polarity type is a critical parameter for avalanche photodiode performance. We demonstrated a technique using capacitance-voltage (CV) measurements on double mesa structures with a p-i-n or n-i-p homojunctions to determine the polarity type of the unintentionally doped intrinsic (uid) region. CV measurements scale with the size of the mesa and enable design flexibility in producing variable top or bottom mesa diameters. We designed and tested AlGaAsSb and AlInAsSb structures and performed measurements at varying temperatures. Measurements varied with the top mesa, indicating the p-n junction is located between the p-region and the uid region, therefore it is n-type.
Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are critical components for a variety of remote sensing applications, particularly for 3D imaging using light detection and ranging (LiDAR). APDs can provide higher sensitivity and faster response times than traditional PIN diodes due to their internal gain. To apply LiDAR to gas monitoring applications, including greenhouse gases, APDs need to be sensitive further into the infrared than Si APDs can detect. This work investigates an absorber that is sensitive to 2 μm and compatible with an APD. A separate absorption, charge, and multiplication (SACM) heterostructure is often used to reduce the dark current of an infrared APD. In a SACM design, the absorber is placed in a low field region to minimize tunneling and the multiplier is placed in a high field region to maximize impact ionization. We have previously explored high performance multipliers that are lattice matched to InP substrates. In this work, we explore a candidate lattice-matched absorber, an In0.53Ga0.47As/GaAs0.51Sb0.49 Type II superlattice (T2SL). We have demonstrated photoluminescence at 2 μm using a 5 nm InGaAs/5 nm GaAsSb T2SL structure. We have grown and fabricated 1-micron thick PIN diodes with this absorber material and obtained an n-type background carrier concentration of 5×1015 cm-3 . We are currently undertaking the radiometric characterization of these devices to support their integration into a SACM APD.
Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are used in high-speed data communication and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems due to their high sensitivity and high speed. However, InAlAs and InP based APDs have relatively high excess noise because they have relatively similar electron and hole ionization coefficients (α and β respectively). Here, we report on an ultra-low excess noise material Al0.85Ga0.15As0.56Sb0.44 (hereafter AlGaAsSb) with a k value (β/α) of 0.01. The excess noise and multiplication measurements were performed on both random alloy (RA) p+-i-n+ and digital alloy (DA) grown p+-i-n+ diodes with depletion regions of 1020nm and 890nm respectively. The excess noise was found to be broadly similar in both RA and DA grown structures.
We report the noise characteristics of an AlInAsSb avalanche photodiode (APD) on an InP substrate. We observe low excess noise corresponding to an impact ionization coefficient ratio (k) of 0.012, and a dark current density of 55 μA/cm2 at a gain of 10 at room temperature. The performance of commercial APDs on InP substrates is limited by the excess noise and the performance of state of the art (SOA) APDs on InP substrates is limited by the dark current. The combination of low excess noise and low dark current of AlInAsSb leads to a significant performance improvement compared to commercial APDs and provides a potential candidate for low noise, SOA, commercial APDs for near-infrared applications. When combined in a separate absorber, charge and multiplication layer (SACM) architecture with an InGaAs absorption layer, the low noise characteristics of AlInAsSb point towards a superior InP substrate-based APD targeting 1.55 μm for applications such as optical communications and light detection and ranging (LiDAR).
We present gain, dark current and excess noise characteristics of PIN Al0.85Ga0.15As0.56Sb0.44 (hereafter AlGaAsSb) avalanche photodiodes (APDs) on InP substrates with 1000 nm thick multiplier layers. The AlGaAsSb APDs were grown by molecular beam epitaxy using a digital alloy technique (DA) to avoid phase separation. Current-voltage measurements give a peak gain of ~ 42, a breakdown voltage of – 54.3 V, and a dark current density at a gain of 10 of ~ 145 μA/cm2. Excess noise measurements of multiple AlGaAsSb APDs show that k (the ratio of electron and hole impact ionization coefficients) is ~ 0.01. This k-value is comparable to Si, which is widely used for visible and near-infrared APDs. The low dark current density and low excess noise suggest that such thick AlGaAsSb layers are promising multipliers in separate absorption, charge and multiplication (SACM) structures for short-wavelength infrared applications such as optical communication and LIDAR, particularly on a commercial InP platform.
With the increasing use of resonant structures in optical devices, broadband optical characterization of the refractive index and extinction coefficient is necessary for accurate simulation and device design. For resonance-enhanced photodetectors, the complex refractive index is necessary to impedance match not only the resonator to air, minimizing the reflection, but also the resonator to the detector element, ensuring absorption occurs in the photodiode. To work towards better resonator-detector coupling, we present the complex refractive index for GaSb and an InAs/GaSb strained layer superlattice designed to be the absorber layer for a long-wave infrared photodetector. The optical properties were extracted using spectroscopic ellipsometry. Several modeling methods will be discussed for both the superlattice and the single-side polished bulk GaSb. Comparison to transmission and reflection values as well as absorption coefficients from literature provide additional confidence in the extraction process. Future work will incorporate these values into a resonance-enhanced photodetector.
We present a method of determining the background doping type in semiconductors using capacitance-voltage measurements on overetched double mesa p-i-n or n-i-p structures. Unlike Hall measurements, this method is not limited by the conductivity of the substrate. By measuring the capacitance of devices with varying top and bottom mesa sizes, we were able to conclusively determine which mesa contained the p-n junction, revealing the polarity of the intrinsic layer. This method, when demonstrated on GaSb p-i-n and n-i-p structures, determined that the material is residually doped p-type, which is well established by other sources. The method was then applied on a 10 monolayer InAs/10 monolayer AlSb superlattice, for which the doping polarity was unknown, and indicated that this material is also p-type.
The need for greater flexibility, tunability, and performance has led to the more recent development of IR detector materials and technologies based on an array of Sb-based III-V compounds and structures. While these approaches have proved successful for some applications, practical limitations related to accessible materials properties and integrable combinations still exist. To provide a larger materials palette from which long-wave (8-14 μm) IR photodetectors may be produced, the use of high-quality metamorphic (i.e. strain-relaxed lattice-mismatched) virtual substrates that provide access to lattice constants between GaSb and InSb is of substantial interest. To this end, we are engaged in the investigation of multiple metamorphic pathways via MBE and MOCVD based compositional grading to support the development of high-performance InAsSb long-wave IR photodetectors. These efforts are focused on two main avenues: (1) a novel digital alloy approach for MBE-grown AlInSb metamorphic buffers; and (2) MOCVD-based growth of more traditional InAsSb compositionally-graded buffers. In both cases, preliminary work has resulted in threading dislocation densities at target lattice constants on the order of 1-3×10^6 cm^-2, with room for significant further reduction. Initial prototype InAsSb nBn test devices (8 μm cutoff), grown via MBE on AlInSb virtual substrates, have yielded dark currents as low as 3×10^-6 A/cm^2 (at 0.3 V), an order of magnitude below the equivalent “Rule 07” HgCdTe value, indicating strong promise for the development of high-performance devices. At the conference, we will present up-to-date results on the metamorphic buffer development and integrated devices for these two promising pathways.
Avalanche Photodiodes (APDs) that target a wavelength of 1550 nm, have several applications ranging from optical communications to imaging to single photon detection. The DE-JTO will use an array of APDs to image the wavefront of its 1550 nm laser. The distinctive feature of an APD is high sensitivity due to the gain achieved by impact ionization of carriers. Because impact ionization is a stochastic process, it introduces excess noise that limits the signal to noise ratio of an APD. However, the excess noise may be reduced by engineering the k (=β/α) value of the device, where β and α are the impact ionization coefficients of holes and electrons, respectively. k can be engineered by band diagram engineering [1], band structure engineering [2], or dead space effect [3,4]. Combinations of these are also used [5]. Band diagram engineering enables the implementation of Capasso’s channeling APD [1]. In this design, electrons and holes are spatially separated in different channels with distinct materials and bandgaps. These channel materials are designed to minimize the impact ionization of one carrier and promote the other, thereby optimizing the k and excess noise. The two limitations of the Capasso design are (1) the leakage current due to doping the channels and (2) excess noise due to dual carrier injection. Firstly, to spatially separate the carriers between narrow and wide bandgap materials, type I band alignment with doping is suggested by Capasso. However, type II band alignment, due to the valance band offset, may inherently provide the field required for the spatial separation of carriers. And type II alignment avoids the doping that could lead to leakage currents. Secondly, channeling APD is a planar configuration leading to dual carrier injection that increases the excess noise. Using a window injection layer defined by lithography, a channeling APD with single carrier injection is designed.
Publisher’s Note: This paper, originally published on 5/4/2018, was replaced with a corrected/revised version on 3/7/2019. If you downloaded the original PDF but are unable to access the revision, please contact SPIE Digital Library Customer Service for assistance.
Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are a promising detector technology for light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems needed for a variety of DoD and commercial applications. However, a new material that is sensitive to 1.55 μm and has low “excess noise” is needed to achieve the required signal-to-noise. The main issue for improving APD signal-to-noise is to reduce excess noise. Excess noise is inevitable in APDs because impact ionization must occur to obtain a high multiplication gain. One solution to reduce the excess noise is to develop a new material system with favorable impact ionization coefficients. The ratio of electron (α) and hole (β) impact ionization coefficients, defined as k value, is intrinsically defined by the material and is a dominant factor for the APD’s excess noise.
In this work, we investigate InAs/AlSb type-II superlattice (T2SL) APD. The superlattices provide us with additional degrees of freedom to engineer the electronic band structure. Our work is building on previous, promising results with the quaternary system AlInAsSb. We have theoretically modeled an InAs/AlSb type II superlattice (T2SL) system that can provide flexibility to engineer the electronic band structure to achieve single carrier impact ionization and reduce the excess noise. The simulation of this T2SL predicts that InAs/AlSb has higher absorption and would work as an electron- APD with low k. We will discuss design, growth, fabrication and IV characterization of this photodiodes.
We report high quantum efficiency (QE) MWIR barrier photodetectors based on the InAs/GaSb/AlSb type II superlattice (T2SL) material system. The nBp design consists of a single unipolar barrier (InAs/AlSb SL) placed between a 4 μm thick p-doped absorber (InAs/GaSb SL) and an n-type contact layer (InAs/GaSb SL). At 80K, the device exhibited a 50% cut-off wavelength of 5 μm, was fully turned-ON at zero bias and the measured QE was 62% (front side illumination with no AR coating) at 4.5 μm with a dark current density of 8.5×10-9 A/cm2 . At 150 K and Vb=50 mV, the 50% cut-off wavelength increased to 5.3 μm and the quantum efficiency (QE) was measured to be 64% at 4.5 μm with a dark current of 1.07×10-4 A/cm2 . The measurements were verified at multiple AFRL laboratories. The results from this device along with the analysis will be presented in this paper.
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