High Temperature Tolerant Mid-Wavelength Infrared Avalanche Photodiodes with Separated Fully-depleted Absorption, Multiplication Region | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article High Temperature Tolerant Mid-Wavelength Infrared Avalanche Photodiodes with Separated Fully-depleted Absorption, Multiplication Region Liqi Zhu, Zihao Wang, Jiamu Lin, Jian Huang, Linxuan He, Xi Wang, and 8 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5711150/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 12 Apr, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Materials → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) avalanche photodiodes (APD) are extensively employed in rapid, high-precision detection as well as thermal imaging in complex context due to their superior sensitivity, fast response, and high gain. However, conventional MWIR APD’s detection typically requires lowtemperature operation to relieve signal-to-noise limitations imposed by high dark currents in narrow bandgap materials. To address this challenge, we present the high-temperature-operating MWIR avalanche photodiode with a separated fullydepleted absorption, multiplication region (SFDAM) structure to suppress the diffusion dark current and minimize the excess noise. The proposed APD can cope with infrared light well up to 4.2 µm, and exhibits low dark current density at unit gain that nearly an order of magnitude lower than the theoretical diffusion current limitation at elevated temperatures of 160 K. At 80 K, the device achieves comparable gain-normalized dark current density (GNDCD) still <6×10-10A/cm 2 at gain < 20 and demonstrates low excess noise < 1.67. At a high temperature of 160 K, the GNDCD preserves consistently below 2×10−6 A/cm 2 for gain values less than 189, while the excess noise holds below 1.4 and the noise equivalent power is <7.2×10 −16 W/ Hz of 3.5 µm. The device is also validated for imaging weak targets up to 200 km away. These results enable the SFDAM APDs are promising and desirable for future high-temperature-operating MWIR detection and likely the photon-starved applications. Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical techniques/Imaging and sensing Physical sciences/Engineering/Electrical and electronic engineering Avalanche photodiodes Mid-wavelength High temperature operation Low noise Weak signal imaging Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Supplementaryinformation.docx High Temperature Tolerant Mid-Wavelength Infrared Avalanche Photodiodes with Separated Fully-depleted Absorption, Multiplication Region Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 12 Apr, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Materials → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5711150","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":396096779,"identity":"5edd8599-e5d4-4eec-9599-75ff1d0f7b41","order_by":0,"name":"Liqi Zhu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA+ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCQbGAwkMEnIMDIyNB0BcYrQwgLQYA7U0gLQQoQekBUglNjBAGIS1yM/uMTjwoMwifW37YaAtfyzqzBmYH35gqLmDUwvjnDMGBxLOSeRuO5PYcICxTULCsoHNWILh2DOcWpglcgwOJLYBtRwAaWmQkDA4wGAG9NdhnFrYoFrSzc4/BDkMpIX9G14tPFAtCWY3gLYATQBq4cFvi4REWgHIL4bbbgBtAeqV3NnMUyyRcAy3FvkZyRsf/iirkzc7n/7wwYc/dfzm7O0bP3yowa0F6iMonQDEBsxQBnFaQMCAoOpRMApGwSgYaQAA4jhW9bQ1Fp8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1197-4698","institution":"National Key Laboratory of Infrared Detection Technologies, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200083, China.","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Liqi","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhu","suffix":""},{"id":396096780,"identity":"355b82eb-67eb-4fc7-95cc-a9b40a7af97c","order_by":1,"name":"Zihao Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"School of Information Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, China.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zihao","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":396096781,"identity":"87389d83-2e48-471b-bf5f-bde08150643c","order_by":2,"name":"Jiamu Lin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Key Laboratory of Infrared Detection Technologies, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200083, China.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jiamu","middleName":"","lastName":"Lin","suffix":""},{"id":396096782,"identity":"4561e7dc-1792-4f58-9089-b718fc6a218e","order_by":3,"name":"Jian Huang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Key Laboratory of Infrared Detection Technologies, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200083, China.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jian","middleName":"","lastName":"Huang","suffix":""},{"id":396096783,"identity":"3dca8be5-cd55-431d-8434-2ccf0af298c4","order_by":4,"name":"Linxuan He","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"School of Microelectronics, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Linxuan","middleName":"","lastName":"He","suffix":""},{"id":396096784,"identity":"88ee5f90-2b6f-46a7-a003-92c377b6f14c","order_by":5,"name":"Xi Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Key Laboratory of Infrared Detection Technologies, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200083, China.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xi","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":396096785,"identity":"aa6ef4b3-3b04-494e-a3c1-09229193d13f","order_by":6,"name":"Songmin Zhou","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Key Laboratory of Infrared Detection Technologies, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200083, China.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Songmin","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhou","suffix":""},{"id":396096786,"identity":"22eb65cb-d93e-4e00-bec3-fe3430ab299a","order_by":7,"name":"Zhikai Gan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chinese Academy of Sciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhikai","middleName":"","lastName":"Gan","suffix":""},{"id":396096787,"identity":"41c1827b-67f0-4de0-b6ed-46d7dde3f47a","order_by":8,"name":"Xun Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Key Laboratory of Infrared Detection Technologies, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200083, China.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xun","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":396096788,"identity":"d933d86a-ba84-4ce6-9671-741d2cf9810d","order_by":9,"name":"Qingxin Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Key Laboratory of Infrared Detection Technologies, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200083, China.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Qingxin","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":396096789,"identity":"0d9325c3-f96e-4302-9bea-bf73887616e8","order_by":10,"name":"Li He","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Li","middleName":"","lastName":"He","suffix":""},{"id":396096790,"identity":"2da964e4-11f7-4d28-b632-740e2059a40e","order_by":11,"name":"Changqing Lin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Key Laboratory of Infrared Detection Technologies, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200083, China.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Changqing","middleName":"","lastName":"Lin","suffix":""},{"id":396096791,"identity":"8ea15e28-0c2b-4db3-add3-bd8eba2c105c","order_by":12,"name":"Chun Lin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Key Laboratory of Infrared Detection Technologies, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200083, China.","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chun","middleName":"","lastName":"Lin","suffix":""},{"id":396096792,"identity":"96858c25-64a7-41f7-b0b7-38d119108828","order_by":13,"name":"Baile Chen","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3265-5787","institution":"ShanghaiTech University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Baile","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-12-25 12:30:11","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5711150/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5711150/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-025-00787-2","type":"published","date":"2025-04-12T04:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":80469722,"identity":"114925c2-d4b6-4755-9e3c-ae0c41e6e7b3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-04-13 07:06:27","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1756885,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"snarticle.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5711150/v1_covered_99b65b91-0351-4179-bb39-c8908fb02054.pdf"},{"id":73437377,"identity":"54b2dca1-5022-4b52-87e9-426f662fc863","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-10 02:45:10","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":535939,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"High Temperature Tolerant Mid-Wavelength Infrared Avalanche Photodiodes with Separated Fully-depleted Absorption, Multiplication Region","description":"","filename":"Supplementaryinformation.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5711150/v1/6f85992cee3e52fc0c60e182.docx"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"High Temperature Tolerant Mid-Wavelength Infrared Avalanche Photodiodes with Separated Fully-depleted Absorption, Multiplication Region","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"
[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Avalanche photodiodes, Mid-wavelength, High temperature operation, Low noise, Weak signal imaging","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5711150/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5711150/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eMid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) avalanche photodiodes (APD) are extensively employed in rapid, high-precision detection as well as thermal imaging in complex context due to their superior sensitivity, fast response, and high gain. However, conventional MWIR APD’s detection typically requires lowtemperature operation to relieve signal-to-noise limitations imposed by high dark currents in narrow bandgap materials. To address this challenge, we present the high-temperature-operating MWIR avalanche photodiode with a separated fullydepleted absorption, multiplication region (SFDAM) structure to suppress the diffusion dark current and minimize the excess noise. The proposed APD can cope with infrared light well up to 4.2 µm, and exhibits low dark current density at unit gain that nearly an order of magnitude lower than the theoretical diffusion current limitation at elevated temperatures of 160 K. At 80 K, the device achieves comparable gain-normalized dark current density (GNDCD) still \u0026lt;6×10-10A/cm 2 at gain \u0026lt; 20 and demonstrates low excess noise \u0026lt; 1.67. At a high temperature of 160 K, the GNDCD preserves consistently below 2×10−6 A/cm 2 for gain values less than 189, while the excess noise holds below 1.4 and the noise equivalent power is \u0026lt;7.2×10 −16 W/ Hz of 3.5 µm. The device is also validated for imaging weak targets up to 200 km away. These results enable the SFDAM APDs are promising and desirable for future high-temperature-operating MWIR detection and likely the photon-starved applications.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"High Temperature Tolerant Mid-Wavelength Infrared Avalanche Photodiodes with Separated Fully-depleted Absorption, Multiplication Region","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-01-10 02:45:06","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5711150/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"
[email protected]","identity":"communications-materials","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"commsmat","sideBox":"Learn more about [Communications Materials](https://www.nature.com/commsmat/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Communications Materials","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Communications Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"4cd54e31-417c-416e-b76e-d6b31a11905d","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 10th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":42197753,"name":"Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical techniques/Imaging and sensing"},{"id":42197754,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering/Electrical and electronic engineering"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-04-13T07:06:19+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-5711150","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-025-00787-2","journal":{"identity":"communications-materials","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Communications Materials"},"publishedOn":"2025-04-12 04:00:00","publishedOnDateReadable":"April 12th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-01-10 02:45:06","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s43246-025-00787-2","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-025-00787-2","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5711150","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5711150","identity":"rs-5711150","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}
Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below.
Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure
cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can
have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy
(via DOI)
is the canonical version.