InGaAs p-i-n photodiodes for fibre-optic communication

Abstract

High purity layers of In_1-xGa_xAs have been grown by liquid phase epitaxy using a novel impurity gettering technique with rare earth atoms. The electron concentration could thus be decreased from 3 × 10¹⁸ cm^-3 to 2.4 × 10¹⁵ cm^-3 and the mobility increased from 7110 cm²/Vs to 18,981 cm²/Vs (100 K). The excellent quality of the layers has been evidenced by X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence measurements. The fabrication of p-i-n photodiodes using this technique is described and reliability aspects addressed.