Ionization coefficients and excess noise characteristics of AlInAsSb on an InP substrate

For short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) avalanche photodiodes, a separate absorption, charge, and multiplication design is widely used. AlInAsSb on an InP substrate is a potential multiplication layer with a lattice match to absorber candidates across the SWIR. Our new measurements demonstrate that AlInAsSb on InP is a promising multiplier candidate with a relatively low dark current density of 10−4 A/cm2 at a gain of 30; a high gain, measured up to 245 in this study; and a large differentiation of electron and hole ionization leading to a low excess noise, measured to be 2.5 at a gain of 30. These characteristics are all improvements over commercially available SWIR detectors incorporating InAlAs or InP as the multiplier. We measured and analyzed gain for multiple wavelengths to extract the ionization coefficients as a function of an electric field over the range 0.33–0.6 MV/cm.