Title: Optimization of the Bandstructure Engineered Type-II Superlattice Antimonide Avalanche Photodiodes (BETA-APD) Technology for Short-Wavelength Infrared (SWIR) Remote Sensing Applications
Presenting Author: Christopher Ball
Organization: The Ohio State University
Co-Author(s): S. Krishna, T. Ronningen, S. Lee, H. Jung, M. Schwartz, M. Muduli, S. Mills, C. Shum, S. Tempel, C. Grein, T. Basko

Abstract:
Our team is designing, developing, and testing novel short wavelength infrared (SWIR) avalanche photodiodes (APDs) with spectral coverage over 1-2 microns and high operating temperatures. They are being optimized to support passive (spectroscopy) and active (lidar) remote sensing applications such as greenhouse gas monitoring, topographic imaging, and wind speed characterization. The development of this new APD technology has prioritized maximizing quantum efficiency and avalanche gain, while minimizing excess noise and dark current. Over the past year, our efforts have focused on performance enhancement in two different material systems in a separate absorption, charge, and multiplication (SACM) architecture. These materials use either GaAsSb or InGaAs in the absorption layer and AlGaAsSb in the multiplication layer. We report in our latest results that we can achieve significantly higher gains and lower excess noise than previously reported. Current technical challenges relate to reduction of the surface leakage current and bulk dark current in these APDs. The overall objective is to enable operation at high temperature (>200 K), eliminating the need for large, power hungry cryogenic cooling systems and enabling future integration into small, resource-constrained platforms (e.g., CubeSats, Unmanned Aerial Systems).