Patent ID: 7582920

Claim:
A photodiode comprising a semiconductor layer for providing avalanche multiplication of electrical carriers wherein the semiconductor layer comprises: (1) an active region having a substantially uniform breakdown voltage, V ba , and wherein the active region is doped with a first dopant to a first diffusion radius, R da , and wherein the active region is doped to a first junction depth that is substantially uniform; and (2) an edge region having an edge-region width, wherein the edge region is doped with a second dopant to a second diffusion radius, R de , and wherein the edge region is doped to a second junction depth that has a second average junction depth, and wherein the edge-region width is within the range of approximately R de to approximately R de +2R da , and further wherein the edge region has a breakdown voltage, V be , that is greater than or equal to 0.9V ba ; wherein the active region and the edge region are contiguous, and wherein the first junction depth is greater than the second average junction depth.