Simulation of Impact Ionization Coefficients in InAlAs/InAsSb Type-II Superlattice Material Systems

Abstract

We simulate transport for proposed low excess-noise avalanche photodiode InAlAs/InAsSb type-II superlattice materials to evaluate their impact ionization coefficients; a key metric in determining avalanche photodiode performance. The ensemble Monte Carlo method is utilized to develop a stochastic transport kernel suitable for superlattice transport in the static field approximation. The electronic band structure and impact ionization rates are computed from a 14-band superlattice envelope function K·p\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\varvec{K}\\cdot \\varvec{p}$$\\end{document} formalism. We reveal that band engineering through superlattice design can be utilized to enhance the electron-to-hole impact ionization ratio in the InAlAs/InAsSb superlattice material system.