Impact ionization coefficient ratio in InGaAs/InAlAs superlattice avalanche photodiodes determined from noise measurements

The noise of an In0.53Ga0.47As/In0.52Al0.48As superlattice avalanche photodiode is measured at 700 MHz as a function of applied reverse bias voltage. From the measured data the ratio k of the hole to electron impact ionization coefficients is determined. This ratio is equal to 6 in the field range (0.8–2.3)×105 V/cm; beyond this range k decreases with increasing field. The field dependence of k is attributed to a transition from ionization across the valence‐band‐edge discontinuity to band‐to‐band ionization.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70421/2/APPLAB-51-18-1433-1.pd