II-VI compound semiconductor avalanche photodiodes for the infrared spectral region: Opportunities and challenges

초록

Recent advances in II-VI compound semiconductor heteroepitaxial growth and processing technologies have heavily benefitted the development and deployment of avalanche photodiodes (APDs) possessing a low excess noise factor between 1.1 to 1.4, outstanding linear gain, and high quantum efficiency, catering to the multitude of applications straddling the nanosecond regime (e.g., active imaging or individual photon counting) to the millisecond regime (e.g., astronomy). The linear-mode APD array has its genesis in the DRS Infrared Technologies LP elucidation of single carrier (electron) multiplication leading to virtually noise-free gain eclipsing 1,000 at room temperature. In this chapter, we survey the principles, design, fabrication, and technologies, in addition to the opportunities and challenges, of II-VI compound semiconductor APDs for the infrared spectral region. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

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