Investigation of Curvature Effect on Planar InP/InGaAs Avalanche Photodiodes for Edge Breakdown Suppression

경계항복 억제를 위한 평판형 InP/InGaAs 애벌랜치 포토다이오드의 곡률 효과 분석

With the progress of semiconductor processing technology, avalanohe photodiodes (APDs) based on InP/InGaAs are used for high-speed optical receiver modules. Planar-type APDs give higher reliability than mesa-type APDs. However, Planar-type APDs are struggled with a problem of intensed electric field at the junction curvature, which causes edge breakdown phenomena at the junction periphery. In this paper, we focused on studying the effects of junction curvature for APDs performances by different etching processes followed by single diffusion to from p-n junction. The performance of each process is characterized by observing electric field profiles and carrier generation rates. From the results, it can be understood to predict the optimum structure, which can minimize edge breakdown and improve the manufacturability.