Effect of mesa overgrowth on low-frequency noise in planar separate absorption, grading, charge, and multiplication avalanche photodiodes

The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed comparison of the low-frequency noise in single-growth and mesa overgrown planar separate absorption, grading, charge, and multiplication (SAGCM) avalanche photodiodes (APD's) passivated with SiN/sub x/. It was found that existing models did not explain the bias dependence of the low-frequency noise in the mesa overgrown devices. We have found that a low-temperature anneal decreased the low-frequency noise level in single-growth and mesa overgrown APD's. In addition, generation-recombination (G-R) noise was detected in mesa overgrown APD's.