SEMICONDUCTOR PHOTODETECTOR

摘要

A semiconductor photodetector (avalanche photodiode) which provides a high-sensitivity element by being incorporated with a multiplication layer having high-performance multiplication characteristics. A structure reducing an electric field applied to an etching stopper layer is used to permit the use of a multiplication layer (multiplication layer multiplied with a high electric field) having higher-performance multiplication characteristics. A first method to implement this is to use a conductive multiplication layer; and a second method is to use a structure in which a conductive electric-field relaxation layer is incorporated. These methods produce such a structure that can apply an electric field lower than a multiplication electric field to an etching stopper layer.