The Fabrication and Characterization of InAlAs/InGaAs APDs Based on a Mesa-Structure with Polyimide Passivation

This paper presents a novel front-illuminated InAlAs/InGaAs separate absorption, grading, field-control and multiplication (SAGFM) avalanche photodiodes (APDs) with a mesa-structure for high speed response. The electric fields in the InAlAs-multiplication layer and InGaAs-absorption layer enable high multiplication gain and high-speed response thanks to the thickness and concentration of the field-control and multiplication layers. A mesa active region of 45 micrometers was defined using a bromine-based isotropic wet etching solution. The side walls of the mesa were subjected to sulfur treatment before being coated with a thick polyimide layer to reduce current leakage, while lowering capacitance and increasing response speeds. The breakdown voltage (V(BR)) of the proposed SAGFM APDs was approximately 32 V. Under reverse bias of 0.9 V(BR) at room temperature, the proposed device achieved dark current of 31.4 nA, capacitance of 0.19 pF and multiplication gain of 9.8. The 3-dB frequency response was 8.97 GHz and the gain-bandwidth product was 88 GHz. A rise time of 42.0 ps was derived from eye-diagrams at 0.9 V(BR). There was notable absence of intersymbol-interference and the signals remained error-free at data-rates of up to 12.5 Gbps.