Avalanche Photodiodes

Optoelectronic Devices Project

Students: Elena-Cristina LEOPEA

Ioana-Diana BOLOG
Group: 1242E

A photodiode is a kind of light detector, which involves the conversion of light into
voltage or current, based on the mode of operation of the device.
It consists of built-in lenses and optical filters, and has small or large surface areas.
With an increase in their surface areas, photodiodes have a slower response time.
Conventional solar cells, used for generating electric solar power, are a typical photodiode
with a large surface area.
A photodiode is a semi-conductor device, with a p-n junction and an intrinsic layer
between p and n layers. It produces photocurrent by generating electron-hole pairs, due to the
absorption of light in the intrinsic or depletion region. The photocurrent thus generated is
proportional to the absorbed light intensity.
Working Principle of Photodiodes
When photons of energy greater than 1.1 eV hit the diode, electron-hole pairs are
created. The intensity of photon absorption depends on the energy of photons the lower the
energy of photons, the deeper the absorption is. This process is known as the inner
photoelectric effect.
If the absorption occurs in the depletion region of the p-n junction, these hole pairs are swept
from the junction - due to the built-in electric field of the depletion region. As a result, the
holes move toward the anode and the electrons move toward the cathode, thereby producing
photocurrent.
The sum of photocurrents and dark currents, which flow with or without light, is the total
current passing through the photodiode. The sensitivity of the device can be increased by
minimizing the dark current.
Modes of Operation
Photodiodes can be operated in different modes, which are as follows:

Photovoltaic mode It is also known as zero bias mode, in which a voltage is

generated by the illuminated photodiode. It provides a very small dynamic range and
non-linear dependence of the voltage produced

Photoconductive mode - The diode used in this mode is more commonly reverse
biased. The application of reverse voltage increases the width of the depletion layer,
which in turn reduces the response time and capacitance of the junction. This mode is
very fast, and exhibits electronic noise

Avalanche diode mode - Avalanche photodiodes are operated in a high reverse bias
condition, which allow multiplication of an avalanche breakdown to each photogenerated electron-hole pair. This results in internal gain within the photodiode, which
gradually increases the responsivity of the device.

An avalanche photodiode (APD) is a highly sensitive semiconductor electronic

device that exploits the photoelectric effect to convert light to electricity. APDs can be thought
of

as photodetectors that

provide

built-in

first

stage

of gain through avalanche

multiplication.
APDs(Avalanche Photodiodes) are high-speed, high sensitivity photodiodes utilizing
an internal gain mechanism that functions by applying a reverse voltage. Compared to PIN
photodiodes, APDs can measure even lower level light and are used in a wide variety of
app;lications requiring high sensitivity such as long-distance optical communications and
optical distance measurement.
Principle of Avalanche multimplication
When light enters a photodiode, electron-hole pairs are generated if the light energy is
higher

than

the

band

gap

energy.

Light E(eV) and wavelength (nm) have a particular relation:

=

1240
(nm )
E

The band gap of a Si is 1.12 eV at room temperatures, so that it is sensitive to light

wavelengths sorter than 1100 nm. This sensitivity is commonly expressed by terms called
photosensitivity S (A/W) and quantum efficiency QE (%). The photosensitivity is the
photocurrent divided by the incident radiant power, expressed in A/W. The quantum
efficiency is the ratio of electron-hole pairs generated versus the number of incident photons.

There two terms have the following relation:

QE=

S x 1240
x 100( )

When electron-hole pairs are generated in the depletion layer of a photodiode with a
reverse voltage applied to the PN junction, the electrons drift towards the N+ side while the
holes drift towards the P+ side due to the electric field developed across the PN junction. The
drift speed of these electron-hole pairs or carriers depends on the electric field strength.
However, when the electric field is incresed to a certain level, the carriers are more likely to
collide with the crystal lattice so that their drift speed becomes satrated at an average speed.
This phenomenon begins to occur when the electric field is in the vicinity of 10 4 V/cm,
and the saturated drift speed at this point is about 107 cm/s. If the reverse voltage is increased
even further, some of the carriers which escaped collision with the crystal lattice will have
great deal of energy. When these carriers collide with the crystal lattice, ionization in which
electron-hole pairs are newly generated takes place. There electron-hole pairs then create
additional electron-hole pairs in a process just like a chain reaction. This is a phenomenon
referred to as avalanche mutiplication of photocurrent.
This phenomenon begins to take place when the electric field strength reaches 2 x 105 V/cm.

Schematic diagram of avalanche process showing how the generated carriers are multiplied
inside the APD:

The number of electron-hole pairs are generated during the time that carriers travel a given
distrance is referred to as the ionization rate.
Usually, the ionization rate of electrons is defined as and that of holes as . These
ionization rates are important factors in determining the avalanche multiplication mechanism.
The ratio k of and is called ionization ratio and is used as a parameter to indicate device
noise:
k=

Materials
In principle any semiconductor material can be used as a multiplication region:

Silicon will detect in the visible and near infrared, with low multiplication noise
(excess noise).

Germanium (Ge) will detect infrared out to a wavelength of 1.7 m, but has high
multiplication noise.

InGaAs will detect out to longer than 1.6 m, and has less multiplication noise than
Ge. It is normally used as the absorption region of a heterostructure diode, most typically
involving InP as a substrate and as a multiplication layer. This material system is
compatible with an absorption window of roughly 0.9-1.7 m. InGaAs exhibits a
highabsorption

coefficient at

the

wavelengths

appropriate

to

high-speed

telecommunications using optical fibers, so only a few micrometres of InGaAs are

required for nearly 100% light absorption. The excess noise factor is low enough to
permit a gain-bandwidth product in excess of 100 GHz for a simple InP/InGaAs
system, and up to 400 GHz for InGaAs on silicon. Therefore high speed operation is
possible: commercial devices are available to speeds of at least 10 Gbit/s.

Gallium nitride based diodes have been used for operation with ultraviolet light.

HgCdTe based diodes operate in the infrared, typically out to a maximum wavelength
of about 14 m, but require cooling to reduce dark currents. Very low excess noise can be
achieved in this material system.

Silicon Avalanche photodiodes (Si APD) are the preferred optical detectors for
applications where the wavelength lies between 400nm and 1100nm and where high speed
and low optical power detection is required. The avalanche multiplication of the photogenerated carriers is responsible for the signal-to-noise ratio improvement when compared to
a simple PN or PIN detector. BER or probability of detection in communication systems,
maximum range and range resolution for Laser range finder or NEP in scanning video imager
can be improved by using APD. APD gain is the parameter that one has to choose in order to
maximize system performance. The gain maximizing signal-to-ratio (SNR) or noise
equivalent power (NEP) depends on system parameters; mainly background and signal optical
power, operating temperature and operating wavelength and on the optical receiver itself; i.e.
the transimpedance amplifier and APD characteristics. This paper will present measurements
of the characteristics of an APD and a transimpedance amplifier which will be used to build a
model of the optical receiver. Measurement methods presented here are simple but accurate
enough to highlight key characteristics. SNR and NEP will be simulated in typical operating
conditions. Special care will be held to temperature which has strong impact on
semiconductor devices.
The gain obtained by avalanche multiplication of the carriers is unique to APDs. This
gain mechanism helps improve SNR in many applications but it comes at the price of
increased complexity of operation when compared to a simple PN or PIN detector. The
structure of the APD includes an absorption region similar to a PIN detector but a thin section
of the structure allows multiplication of the carriers. There are different APD structures
commercially available. The structure of the C30954 is a rear entry reach-through which
offers the best available combination of high speed, low noise and capacitance, and extended
IR response.

The photons pass through the thin front contact (p+ region) to be mainly absorbed in
the absorption region () where electron-hole pairs are generated. Electrons drift in direction
of the cathode going through the multiplication region where the electric field is high enough
to allow impact ionization. Holes go in the opposite direction and are collected at the anode (p
side). As such, mostly electrons will be injected in the multiplication region. Maximizing the
ratio of electrons to holes injected in the multiplying region reduces the noise generated in the
APD due to the higher ionization coefficient of electron. The gain is defined as the average
multiplication for all carriers generated in the diode. It is function of the electric field and
ionization rates of electrons and hole. Above reach-through the electric field is proportional
to the bias voltage applied to the APD. Gain is possible for bias voltage above reachthrough voltage; i.e. when the junction is fully depleted. The ionization rates mainly vary
with electric field and temperature. This short introduction to the reach-through structure
highlighted three parameters having an impact on the characteristics of the APD: ratio of
electron to hole injected in the multiplication region, dependence of the gain on the electric
field, and dependence of the gain with the temperature.
Applications
Photodiodes find application in the following:

Cameras

Medical devices

Safety equipment

Optical communication devices

Position sensors

Bar code scanners

Automotive devices

Surveying instruments

Performance limits
In addition to excess noise, there are limits to device performance associated with the
capacitance, transit times and avalanche multiplication time. The capacitance increases with
increasing device area and decreasing thickness. The transit times (both electrons and holes)
increase with increasing thickness, implying a tradeoff between capacitance and transit time
for performance. The avalanche multiplication time times the gain is given to first order by
the gain-bandwidth product, which is a function of the device structure and most especially .

Conclusions
It is apparent that the shot noise of an APD is higher than that for a comparable
performance photodiode, so even though the APD gives an amplified output the overall signal
to noise performance ( SNR ) is not necessarily improved. In order for a regular photodiode to
detect lower light levels it is usual to increase the gain in the operating circuit by increasing
the feedback resistor value. This has the unwanted consequence of reducing the speed of
response and increasing the thermal noise associated with the operating circuit. In contrast,
operation with an APD allows for the gain to be increased to improve the SNR whilst
maintaining the speed of response, until the shot noise reaches a level equivalent to the
thermal noise.
Due to their performance advantages APDs are then used widely in applications such
as distance measurement, data transmission ( over fibre or through free space ), range finding,
high speed industrial inspection ( including colour measurement ) and in various other
medical and scientific instrumentation.

References
1. Cova, S. , 'Avalanche photodiodes for near infrared photon-counting', (1995)
2.

Dautet, H. , 'Photon-counting techniques with silicon avalanche photodiodes',

Applied Optics, (1993)

3.

Mclntyre,R.J., 'Multiplication Noise in Uniform Avalanche Diodes', (1966)