Datasheet: NIR InGaAs/InAlAs Avalanche Photodiodes: Voxtel VFI-1000 APD Product Series

Voxtel's custom-engineered VFI-1000 series of InGaAs reduced-noise avalanche photodiodes (R-APDs) provides enhanced responsivity relative to p-i-n photodiodes, with lower noise than conventional near-infrared (NIR) APD designs. Voxtel's Deschutes™ products use thin InAlAs multiplication region InGaAs R-APD technology to suppress the excess multiplication noise associated with the avalanche process, improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the detector. Contemporary APDs achieve high responsivity through internal current gain, but the usefulness of the gain of contemporary APDs is undermined by the accompanying noise. Voxtel's VFI-1000-series R-APDs can be operated at high gain with a smaller noise penalty, providing a significant advantage. Voxtel's R-APDs are designed to deliver the best possible sensitivity for high-bandwidth NIR optical applications, with both low avalanche noise and high quantum efficiency over the 950–1700 nm spectral band, including the eye-safe wavelengths greater than 1400 nm. Coupling the thin InAlAs multiplication region R-APD to a low-noise amplifier produces a receiver with superior noise equivalent power (NEP) and better overall sensitivity.