Planar InP/InGaAs avalanche photodiodes with preferential lateral extended guard ring

High-speed and high-sensitivity planar InP/InGaAs avalanche photodiodes (APD's) have been fabricated with a newly developed preferential lateral extended guard ring (PLEG). By employing the configuration, avalanche photodiode yield was markedly improved without edge breakdown. Received powers required to give 10^-9bit-error rate (BER) at 1.55-1.57-µm wavelength were -44.5 and -37.4 dBm for 450 Mbit/s and 2 Gbit/s, respectively.