Development of InGaAs/AlGaAsSb Geiger Mode Avalanche Photodiodes

Near-infrared linear mode Al
$_{{0.85}}$
Ga
$_{{0.15}}$
As
$_{{0.56}}$
Sb
$_{{0.44}}$
avalanche photodiodes (APDs) exhibit excellent temperature stability, potentially simplifying Geiger mode operation. We have carried out the first experimental evaluation of In
$_{{0.53}}$
Ga
$_{{0.47}}$
As/Al
$_{{0.85}}$
Ga
$_{{0.15}}$
As
$_{{0.56}}$
Sb
$_{{0.44}}$
APDs in Geiger mode. Characterization on multiple devices included temperature-dependent dark current, avalanche multiplication, dark count rate (DCR), afterpulsing, and single photon detection efficiency (SPDE). The temperature coefficient of breakdown voltage extracted from avalanche multiplication data was
$13.5\,\,\text {mV}\cdot \text {K}^{-{1}}$
, much lower than InGaAs/InP Geiger mode APDs, reducing changes in operation voltage and offering possible protection from high optical power thermal attack in communication systems. At 200 K, SPDE were 5%–16% with DCR of 1–
$20\,\,\text {Mc}\cdot \text {s}^{-{1}}$
, comparable to InAlAs and early InP-based Single Photon APDs. The afterpulsing at 200 K was negligible for hold-off time
$50~\mu \text{s}$
(reducing to
$5~\mu \text{s}$
at 250 K). These are similar to the performance of InGaAs/InAlAs and some InGaAs/InP Geiger mode APDs. The data reported in this article is available from the ORDA digital repository (
https://doi.org/10.15131/shef.data.24125721
).