Analysis of high-temperature performance of 4H-SiC avalanche photodiodes in both linear and Geiger modes

The high-temperature performance of 4H-SiC ultraviolet avalanche photodiodes(APDs)in both linear and Geiger modes is extensively investigated.During the temperature-dependent measurements,a fixed bias voltage is adopted for the device samples,which is much more practical and important for high-temperature applications.The results show that the fabricated 4H-SiC APDs are very stable and reliable at high temperatures.As the temperature increases from room temperature to 425 K,the dark current at 95%of the breakdown voltage increases slightly and remains lower than40 pA.In Geiger mode,our 4H-SiC APDs can be self-quenched in a passive-quenching circuit,which is expected for highspeed detection systems.Moreover,an interesting phenomenon is observed for the first time:the single-photon detection efficiency shows a non-monotonic variation as a function of temperature.The physical mechanism of the variation in hightemperature performance is further analyzed.The results in this work can provide a fundamental reference for researchers in the field of 4H-SiC APD ultraviolet detectors.

Planar InAlAs/InGaAs avalanche photodiode with 360 GHz gain×bandwidth product

This paper describes a guardring-free planar InAlAs/InGaAs avalanche photodiode(APD)by computational simulations and experimental results.The APD adopts the structure of separate absorption,charge,and multiplication(SACM)with top-illuminated.Computational simulations demonstrate how edge breakdown effect is suppressed in the guardringfree structure.The fabricated APD experiment results show that it can obtain a very low dark current while achieving a high gain×bandwidth(GB)product.The dark current is 3 nA at 0.9Vb r,and the unit responsivity is 0.4 A/W.The maximum3 dB bandwidth of 24 GHz and a GB product of 360 GHz are achieved for the fabricated APD operating at 1.55μm.

Investigation of Ga_(2)O_(3)/diamond heterostructure solar-blind avalanche photodiode via TCAD simulation

A Ga_(2)O_(3)/diamond separate absorption and multiplication avalanche photodiode(SAM-APD)with mesa structure has been proposed and simulated.The simulation is based on an optimized Ga_(2)O_(3)/diamond heterostructure TCAD physical model,which is revised by repeated comparison with the experimental data from the literature.Since both Ga_(2)O_(3)and diamond are ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor materials,the Ga_(2)O_(3)/diamond SAM-APD shows good solar-blind detection ability,and the corresponding cutoff wavelength is about 263 nm.The doping distribution and the electric field distribution of the SAM-APD are discussed,and the simulation results show that the gain of the designed device can reach 5×10^(4)and the peak responsivity can reach a value as high as 78 A/W.

The Effects by γ Ray Irradiation on Silicon Photodiodes

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Recent progress of SiC UV single photon counting avalanche photodiodes

4H-SiC single photon counting avalanche photodiodes(SPADs)are prior devices for weak ultraviolet(UV)signal detection with the advantages of small size,low leakage current,high avalanche multiplication gain,and high quantum efficiency,which benefit from the large bandgap energy,high carrier drift velocity and excellent physical stability of 4 H-SiC semiconductor material.UV detectors are widely used in many key applications,such as missile plume detection,corona discharge,UV astronomy,and biological and chemical agent detection.In this paper,we will describe basic concepts and review recent results on device design,process development,and basic characterizations of 4 H-SiC avalanche photodiodes.Several promising device structures and uniformity of avalanche multiplication are discussed,which are important for achieving high performance of 4 HSiC UV SPADs.

Avalanche photodiodes on silicon photonics

Silicon photonics technology has drawn significant interest due to its potential for compact and high-performance photonic integrated circuits.The Ge-or III-V material-based avalanche photodiodes integrated on silicon photonics provide ideal high sensitivity optical receivers for telecommunication wavelengths.Herein,the last advances of monolithic and hetero-geneous avalanche photodiodes on silicon are reviewed,including different device structures and semiconductor systems.

Effects of high-energy proton irradiation on separate absorption and multiplication GaN avalanche photodiode

The effect of high-energy proton irradiation on GaN-based ultraviolet avalanche photodiodes(APDs) is investigated. The dark current of the GaN APD is calculated as a function of the proton energy and proton fluences. By considering the diffusion, generation–recombination, local hopping conductivity, band-to-band tunneling, and trap-assisted tunneling currents, we found that the dark current increases as the proton fluence increases, but decreases with increasing proton energy.

Design, Fabrication, and Modeling of CMOS-Compatible Double Photodiode

A double photodiode(PD) constructed by p^+/N-well junction and N-well/p-sub junction was designed and fabricated in a UMC 0.18-lm CMOS process. Based on the device structure and mechanism of double PD, a novel small-signal equivalent circuit model considering the carrier transit effect and the parasitic RC time constant was presented. By this model with complete electronic components, the double PD can be incorporated in a commercial circuit simulator. The component values were extracted by fitting the measured S-parameters using simulated annealing algorithm, and a good agreement between the measurement and the simulation results was achieved.

Schottky photodiode using submicron thick diamond epilayer for flame sensing

The sensing of a flame can be performed by using wide-bandgap semiconductors, which offer a high signal-to-noise ratio since they only response the ultraviolet emission in the flame. Diamond is a robust semiconductor with a wide-bandgap of 5.5 e V, exhibiting an intrinsic solar-blindness for deep-ultraviolet(DUV) detection. In this work, by using a submicron thick boron-doped diamond epilayer grown on a type-Ib diamond substrate, a Schottky photodiode device structure- based flame sensor is demonstrated. The photodiode exhibits extremely low dark current in both forward and reverse modes due to the holes depletion in the epilayer. The photodiode has a photoconductivity gain larger than 100 and a threshold wavelength of 330 nm in the forward bias mode. CO and OH emission bands with wavelengths shorter than 330 nm in a flame light are detected at a forward voltage of-10 V. An alcohol lamp flame in the distance of 250 mm is directly detected without a focusing lens of flame light.

Self-powered solar-blind photodiodes based on EFG-grown(100)-dominant β-Ga_(2)O_(3) substrate

We report the edge-defined-film-fed(EFG)-grown β-Ga_(2)O_(3)-based Schottky photodiodes.The device has a reverse leakage current of ~nA and a rectified ratio of ~10^(4) at ±5 V.In addition,the photodiode detector shows a dark current of 0.3 pA,a photo-responsivity(R) of 2.875 mA/W,a special detectivity(D*) of 10^(10) Jones,and an external quantum efficiency(EQE) of 1.4% at zero bias,illustrating a self-powered operation.This work may advance the development of the Ga_(2)O_(3)-based Schottky diode solar-blind photodetectors.

Short-wavelength infrared InAs/GaSb superlattice hole avalanche photodiode

We demonstrate two short-wavelength infrared avalanche photodiodes based on InAs/GaSb superlattice grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition.The difference between the two devices,namely,p+n-n+and p+nn-n+,is that the p+nn-n+device possesses an additional middle-doped layer to separate the multiplication region from the absorption region.By properly controlling the electric field distribution in the p+nn-n+device,an electric field of 906 kV/cm has been achieved,which is 2.6 times higher than that in the p+n-n+device.At a reverse bias of-0.1 V at 77 K,both devices show a 100%cut-off wavelength of 2.25μm.The p+n-n+and p+nn-n+show a dark current density of 1.5×10^-7 A/cm^2 and 1.8×10^-8 A/cm^2,and a peak responsivity about 0.35 A/W and 0.40 A/W at 1.5μm,respectively.A maximum multiplication gain of 55 is achieved in the p+nn-n+device while the value is only less than 2 in the p+n-n+device.Exponential nature of the gain characteristic as a function of reverse bias confirms a single carrier hole dominated impact ionization.

High-power InAlAs/InGaAs Schottky barrier photodiodes for analog microwave signal transmission

The design,manufacturing and DC and microwave characterization of high-power Schottky barrier In Al As/In Ga As back-illuminated mesa structure photodiodes are presented.The photodiodes with 10 and 15μm mesa diameters operate at≥40 and 28 GHz,respectively,have the output RF power as high as 58 m W at a frequency of 20 GHz,the DC responsivity of up to 1.08 A/W depending on the absorbing layer thickness,and a photodiode dark current as low as 0.04 n A.We show that these photodiodes provide an advantage in the amplitude-to-phase conversion factor which makes them suitable for use in highspeed analog transmission lines with stringent requirements for phase noise.

Performance improvement of 4H-SiC PIN ultraviolet avalanche photodiodes with different intrinsic layer thicknesses

Four 4H-SiCp-i-n ultraviolet(UV) avalanche photodiode(APD) samples PIN-0.1, PIN-0.35, PIN-0.5, and PIN-1.0 with different intrinsic layer thicknesses(0.1 μm, 0.35 μm, 0.5 μm, and 1.0 μm, respectively) are designed and fabricated.Single photon detection efficiency(SPDE) performance becomes better as the intrinsic layer thickness increases, which is attributed to the inhibitation of tunneling.Dark count origin is also investigated, an activation energy as small as 0.22 eV of the dark count rate(DCR) confirms that the trap-assisted tunneling(TAT) process is the main source of DCR.The temperature coefficient ranges from-2.6 mV/℃ to 18.3 mV/℃, demonstrating that the TAT process is dominant in APDs with thinner intrinsic layers.Additionally, the room temperature maximum quantum efficiency at 280 nm differs from 48% to 65% for PIN-0.35, PIN-0.5, and PIN-1.0 under 0 V bias, and UV/visible rejection ratios higher than 104 are obtained.

Preparation of LPE GaInAsSb Epilayers and Its Photodiodes for Detection of 1．8～2．1μm

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Bias-dependent timing jitter of 1-GHz sinusoidally gated InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode

We characterized the dependence of the timing jitter of an InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche diode on the excess bias voltage(V_(ex)) when operated in 1-GHz sinusoidally gated mode.The single-photon avalanche diode was cooled to-30 degrees Celsius.When the V_(ex) is too low(0.2 V-0.8 V) or too high(3 V-4.2 V),the timing jitter is increased with the V_(ex),particularly at high V_(ex).While at middle V_(ex)(1 V-2.8 V),the timing jitter is reduced.Measurements of the timing jitter of the same avalanche diode with pulsed gating show that this effect is likely related to the increase of both the amplitude of the V_(ex) and the width of the gate-on time.For the 1-GHz sinusoidally gated detector,the best jitter of 93 ps is achieved with a photon detection efficiency of 21.4%and a dark count rate of ~2.08×10^(-5) per gate at the V_(ex) of 2.8 V.To evaluate the whole performance of the detector,we calculated the noise equivalent power(NEP) and the afterpulse probability(P_(ap)).It is found that both NEP and P_(ap) increase quickly when the V_(ex) is above 2.8 V.At ~2.8-V V_(ex),the NEP and P_(ap) are ~2.06×10^(16)W/Hz^(1/2) and 7.11%,respectively.Therefore,the detector should be operated with V_(ex) of 2.8 V to exploit the fast time response,low NEP and low P_(ap).

High-Gain N-Face AlGaN Solar-Blind Avalanche Photodiodes Using a Heterostructure as Separate Absorption and Multiplication Regions

It is well known that Ⅲ-nitride semiconductors can generate the magnitude of MV/cm polarization electric field which is comparable with their ionization electric fields. To take full advantage of the polarization electric field, we design an N-face AlGaN solar-blind avalanche photodiode(APD) with an Al_(0.45)Ga_(0.55)N/Al_(0.3)Ga_(0.7)N heterostructure as separate absorption and multiplication(SAM) regions. The simulation results show that the N-face APDs are more beneficial to improving the avalanche gain and reducing the avalanche breakdown voltage compared with the Ga-face APDs due to the effect of the polarization electric field. Furthermore, the Al_(0.45)Ga_(0.55)N/Al_(0.3)Ga_(0.7)N heterostructure SAM regions used in APDs instead of homogeneous Al_(0.45)Ga_(0.55)N SAM structure can increase significantly avalanche gain because of the increased hole ionization coefficient by using the relatively low Al-content AlGaN in the multiplication region. Meanwhile, a quarter-wave AlGaN/AIN distributed Bragg reflector structure at the bottom of the device is designed to remain a solar-blind characteristic of the heterostructure SAM-APDs.

A low-power high-quality CMOS image sensor using 1.5 V 4T pinned photodiode and dual-CDS column-parallel single-slope ADC

This paper presents a low-power high-quality CMOS image sensor(CIS)using 1.5 V 4T pinned photodiode(4T-PPD)and dual correlated double sampling(dual-CDS)column-parallel single-slope ADC.A five-finger shaped pixel layer is proposed to solve image lag caused by low-voltage 4T-PPD.Dual-CDS is used to reduce random noise and the nonuniformity between columns.Dual-mode counting method is proposed to improve circuit robustness.A prototype sensor was fabricated using a 0.11μm CMOS process.Measurement results show that the lag of the five-finger shaped pixel is reduced by 80%compared with the conventional rectangular pixel,the chip power consumption is only 36 mW,the dynamic range is 67.3 dB,the random noise is only 1.55 e^(-)_(rms),and the figure-of-merit is only 1.98 e^(-)·nJ,thus realizing low-power and high-quality imaging.

Theoretical analysis for AlGaN avalanche photodiodes with mesa and field plate structure

To suppress the electric field crowding at sidewall and improve the detection sensitivity of the AlGaN separate absorption and multiplication(SAM)avalanche photodiodes(APDs),we propose the new AlGaN APDs structure combining a large-area mesa with a field plate(FP).The simulated results show that the proposed AlGaN APDs exhibit a significant increase in avalanche gain,about two orders of magnitude,compared to their counterparts without FP structure,which is attributed to the suppression of electric field crowding at sidewall of multiplication layer and the reduction of the maximum electric field at the p-type GaN sidewall in p-n depletion region.Meanwhile,the APDs can produce an obviously enhanced photocurrent due to the increase in cross sectional area of multiplication region.

Silicon PIN photodiode applied to acquire high-frequency sampling XAFS spectra

Experimental techniques based on SR facilities have emerged with the development of synchrotron radiation(SR)sources.Accordingly,detector miniaturization has become significant for the development of SR experimental techniques.In this study,the miniaturization of a detector was achieved by coupling a commercial silicon PIN photodiode(SPPD)into a beamstop,aiming for it not only to acquire X-ray absorption fine structure(XAFS)spectra,but also to protect the subsequent two-dimensional detector from high-brilliance X-ray radiation damage in certain combination techniques.This mini SPPD detector coupled to a beamstop was used as the rear detector in both the conventional sampling scheme and novel high-frequency(HF)sampling scheme to collect the transmission XAFS spectra.Traditional ion chambers were also used to collect the transmission XAFS spectra,which were used as the reference.These XAFS spectra were quantitatively analyzed and compared;the results demonstrated that the XAFS spectra collected by this SPPD in both the conventional sampling scheme and HF sampling scheme are feasible.This study provides a new detector-selection scheme for the acquisition of the quick-scanning XAFS(QXAFS)and HF sampling XAFS spectra.The SPPD detector presented in this study can partially meet the requirements of detector miniaturization.

A Double Heterostructure Multiplication Region in AlGaN Based SAGCM Avalanche Photodiode

In this study, separate absorption, grading, charge, and multiplication (SAGCM) avalanche photodiode (APD) with double heterojunction AlN/AlxGa1-xN/GaN in multiplication region were designed to reduce excess noise using Monte Carlo simulation. The multiplication region was broken to three different regions and tried to enhance localization of the first and second impact ionization events at near the heterojunctions. The excess noise of the proposed structure, for high gains, was 64% smaller than that of the fabricated standard AlGaN-APDs.