US 12,170,341 B2
Photodiodes without excess noise
Winston K. Chan, Princeton, NJ (US)
Assigned to SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (US)
Filed by SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (US)
Filed on Jan. 19, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/579,471.
Application 17/579,471 is a division of application No. 17/056,315, granted, now 11,362,232, previously published as PCT/US2019/033937, filed on May 24, 2019.
Application 17/056,315 is a continuation in part of application No. PCT/US2018/041574, filed on Jul. 11, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0209040 A1, Jun. 30, 2022
Int. Cl. H01L 31/107 (2006.01); G01J 1/44 (2006.01); G01S 7/481 (2006.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01); H01L 31/0304 (2006.01); H01L 31/0352 (2006.01); H01L 31/18 (2006.01)
CPC H01L 31/1075 (2013.01) [G01J 1/44 (2013.01); G01S 7/4816 (2013.01); G01S 17/931 (2020.01); H01L 31/03046 (2013.01); H01L 31/035236 (2013.01); H01L 31/1844 (2013.01); G01J 2001/4466 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a linear mode avalanche photodiode constructed with
a lattice matched pair of a first semiconductor alloy and a second semiconductor alloy in a superlattice multiplication region that allows only one electrical-current carrier type selected from i) an electron or ii) a hole to accumulate enough kinetic energy to impact ionize when the photodiode is electrically biased to conduct electrical current, and
where the linear mode avalanche photodiode with the matched superlattice structure such that amplification is configured to occur in merely i) a conductance band or ii) a valance band to generate a gain, while generating an excess noise from impact ionization that is low enough, to be capable of detecting a single photon without a penalty of having a deadtime, which thus allows a detection of a subsequent photon to occur substantially immediately after the detection of the single photon.