Zener Phenomena in InGaAs/InAlAs/InP Avalanche Photodiodes

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.