Simulation study of front-illuminated GaN avalanche photodiodes with hole-initiated multiplication

A flip-chip GaN p-i-n-i-n avalanche photodiode (APD) which integrates the merits of the prevailing APDs—hole-initiated multiplication process and front-illumination is proposed and studied via simulation. The simulation parameters used were firstly calibrated with a fabricated PiN diode. With a 200-...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yangqian Wang, Yuliang Zhang, Yang A. Yang, Xing Lu, Xinbo Zou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2020-01-01
Series:Cogent Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311916.2020.1764171
Description
Summary:A flip-chip GaN p-i-n-i-n avalanche photodiode (APD) which integrates the merits of the prevailing APDs—hole-initiated multiplication process and front-illumination is proposed and studied via simulation. The simulation parameters used were firstly calibrated with a fabricated PiN diode. With a 200-nm-thick multiplication layer in the flip-chip GaN p-i-n-i-n diode, the calculated breakdown voltage was around 75 V and the optical gain could reach 105. Geiger-mode APDs were demonstrated using two quenching schemes. With a passive resistive quenching circuit, it took about 30 μs to finish the current quenching and voltage reset process. While by adding an n-MOSFET device to form an active quenching circuit, the current quenching process was significantly accelerated and the dead time was reduced to be dozens of nanoseconds only.
ISSN:2331-1916