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Photodetectors

The staircase photodiode

Nature Photonics volume 10, pages 364–366 (2016)Cite this article

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The demonstration of a prototype avalanche photodiode with a staircase band profile suggests that such devices may ultimately become a viable alternative to photomultiplier tubes in the infrared.

The search for a semiconductor equivalent of the photomultiplier tube (PMT) that operates in the infrared spectral region (defined here loosely as wavelengths >1 μm) has been a long-standing quest of many photodetector researchers.

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Figure 1: Principle and realization of a staircase APD.

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  1. John David is in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Sheffield, Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK,

    John David

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  1. John David
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Correspondence to John David.

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David, J. The staircase photodiode. Nature Photon 10, 364–366 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.98

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