Patent ID: 11362232

Abstract:
A photodiode, such as a linear mode avalanche photodiode can be made free of excess noise via having a superlattice multiplication region that allows only one electrical current carrier type, such as an electron or a hole, to accumulate enough kinetic energy to impact ionize when biased, where the layers are lattice matched. A photodiode can be constructed with i) a lattice matched pair of a first semiconductor alloy and a second semiconductor alloy in a superlattice multiplication region, ii) an absorber region, and iii) a semiconductor substrate. A detector with multiple photodiodes can be made with these construction layers in order to have a cutoff wavelength varied anywhere from 1.7 to 4.9 μm as well as a noise resulting from a dark current at a level such that an electromagnetic radiation signal with the desired minimum wavelength cutoff can be accurately sensed by the photodiode.