Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Frequency Response And Gain Enhancement Of Solid-State Impact-Ionization Multipliers (Sims), Joshua L. Beutler

Theses and Dissertations

A study of the frequency response and gain of Solid-state the Impact-ionization Multiplier (SIM). The SIM generates current gain via impact ionization also known as avalanche gain. The SIM provides low noise amplification from an arbitrary current source. In the case of this study, current sources consisted of photodiodes optimized for a particular wavelength of light. The SIM is fabricated from silicon and enjoys the low noise, low carrier transit time advantages of conventional silicon impact ionization devices while amplifying current from a photodiode of a different material. This is advantageous because ideal detection and multiplication regions cannot always be …