High gain, large area, and solar blind avalanche photodiodes based on Al-rich AlGaN grown on AlN substrates

Abstract

We demonstrate large area (25 000 μm2) Al-rich AlGaN-based avalanche photodiodes (APDs) grown on single crystal AlN substrates operating with differential (the difference in photocurrent and dark current) signal gain of 100 000 at 90 pW (<1 μW cm−2) illumination with very low dark currents <0.1 pA at room temperature under ambient light. The high gain in large area AlGaN APDs is attributed to a high breakdown voltage at 340 V, corresponding to very high breakdown fields ∼9 MV cm−1 as a consequence of low threading and screw dislocation densities < 103 cm−2. The maximum charge collection efficiency of 30% was determined at 255 nm, corresponding to the bandgap of Al0.65Ga0.35N, with a response of 0.06 A/W. No response was detected for λ > 280 nm, establishing solar blindness of the device.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Feb 24, 2020
Source ID
10.1063/1.5138127

Entities

People

  • Andrew Klump
  • Baxter Moody
  • Dolar Khachariya
  • Erhard Kohn
  • James Tweedie
  • M. Hayden Breckenridge
  • Pramod Reddy
  • Qiang Guo
  • Ramón Collazo
  • Ronny Kirste
  • Seiji Mita
  • Spyridon Pavlidis
  • W. J. Mecouch
  • Zlatko Sitar

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Army Research Office
  • National Science Foundation
  • North Carolina State University
  • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Semiconductor Device Technology

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy