Search

We report Al0.3InAsSb/Al0.7InAsSb digital alloy n-barrier-n (nBn) photodetectors that operate in the 2-μm wavelength window. The AlxIn1-xAsySb1-y digital alloy material system exhibits near-zero valence-band offset, which is beneficial for nBn photodetectors. At 300 K these Al0.3InAsSb/Al0.7InAsSb nBn photodetectors have achieved specific detectivities of 1.7 × 10 10 and 3.0 × 10 10 Jones under 2-μm and 1.8-μm illumination, respectively. The dark current density at -0.5 V bias decreases from 3.1 × 10 -3 A/cm 2 at 300 K to 1.6 × 10 -10 A/cm 2 at 120 K, where the dominant dark current component is tunneling. The area-dependence of key performance parameters show that for mesa diameter ≤ 250 μm, surface defects assume a dominant role in the total noise.

We report Al0.8In0.2As0.23Sb0.77 avalanche photodiodes with high gain ( $M>1300$ ) and low dark current at room temperature. Impact ionization coefficients for this material system are also extracted, indicating electron-dominant impact ionization. Low avalanche breakdown temperature dependence is demonstrated.

We report Al0.7InAsSb avalanche photodiodes grow as ternary–binary and binary–binary digital alloys. Their characteristics of ideality factor, activation energy, temperature-dependent excess noise, temperature stability, and impact ionization coefficients are compared.

We report avalanche photodiodes (APDs) fabricated from the digital alloy Al0.8In0.2As0.23Sb0.77 (lattice-matched to GaSb). The APDs exhibit high avalanche multiplication and low excess noise.