199

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. ED-34, NO. 2 , FEBRUARY 1987

A Low Dark Current InGaAs/InP p-i-nPhotodiode

with Covered Mesa Structure
KIYOSHI OHNAKA,MINORU

KUBO,

AND

JUN SHIBATA

Abstract-A new InGaAs p-i-n photodiode with a covered (CM)

mesa
In this paper, we present a new InGaAs p-i-n photostructure having extremely low dark current characteristics and high
diode
with a covered mesa (CM) structure. Remarkable
yields has been developed. The device consists
of only two epitaxial
layers: n--InP and n--InGaAs, continuously grownon an n+-InP sub- reduction of the dark current and a high yield have been
strate by liquid-phase epitaxy. The CnGaAs layer is chemically etched successfully obtained. A simple and reproducible process
to be a tapered shape in order to make the fabrication process simple,
has also been developed to fabricate the CM p-i-n phoas compared with a conventional mesa diode. The Zn diffusion to form
todiode. We describe the structure, the fabrication proa p-n junction is carried out without a diffusion mask suchSi3N,
as or
cedures, and finally the characteristics of the CM p-i-n
SiOz, which induces damage due to the thermal stress. The taperedphotodiode.
shape InGaAs layer is covered with the Zn-diffused layer because a
surface p-n junction occurring in an InGaAs region is leaky. There11. STRUCTURE
OF THE CM p-i-n PHOTODIODE
fore, the surface p-n junctionof the photodiode appears in the n--InP
layer, which has a bandgap about two times wider than the InGaAs.
A photomicrograph and a schematic cross section of the
Finally, the passivation of the surface p-n junction is carried out with
newly
developed CM p-i-n photodiode are shown in Figs.
a Si,N4 film formed by a plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition.
1
and
2(e), respectively. The diameter of the photosenWe have successfully achieved an extremely low dark currentof 20
sitive area located at the center of the chip is 80 pm in
pA at a reverse bias voltageof 10 V and a highyield of 80 percent, by
adopting the CM structure and the simple fabrication process.
order to couple effectively with an optical fiber. The CM

p-i-n photodiode has the following features:

I. INTRODUCTION
ECENTLY, there has been considerable interest in
optical-fiber communications in the long-wavelength
range (1 .O-1.6 pm), where optical fibers exhibit the
smallest dispersion and the lowest transmission loss [l].
In the short-wavelength range (0.8 pm), high receiver
sensitivity could be obtained with relative ease, dueto the
low excess noise and high gain of silicon avalanche photodiodes (APDs). At the long-wavelength range, however, comparable low-noise photodiodes have not been
realized yet and one must rely on Ge APDs, which produce higher levels of excess noise and leakage current.
Instead of Ge APDs, InGaAs p-i-n photodiodes [2]-[6]
and APDs [7], [SI have been investigated because of their
low dark current and good temperature-dependence characteristics. As to the dark current of InGaAs p-i-n photodiodes, it was difficult to reduce the darkcurrent to less
than 1 nA because of the surface instability of InGaAs.
Recently, Kim et al. [9] have reported the reduction of
the dark current using a wide-bandgap InGaAsP cap layer
to decrease the surface leakage current. Campbell et al.
[lo] have shown that the dark current can be reduced to
values as low as 50 pA by using a semi-insulating InP cap
layer.

Manuscript received April 11, 1986; revised August 30, 1986.

The authors are with the Matsushita Electric Industrial C o . , Ltd, Semiconductor Research Center, 3-15, Yagumo-nakamachi Moriguchi, Osaka
570, Japan.
IEEE Log Number 8611371.

A. A Simple Structure Consisting of Only Two Epitaxial

Layers
Although it requires an InP ora wide-bandgap InGaAsP
layer on the InGaAs layer to realize a planar p-i-n photodiode exhibiting a low dark current characteristic [9],
[ 101, it is not so easy to grow an InP layer on anInGaAs
layer if using the liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) technique
because an anti-meltback layer is required on the InGaAs
layer. Since the top layeris InGaAs in the CM p-i-n photodiode, it is easy to grow the epitaxial layers by using
the LPE technique. The device consists of only two epitaxial layers: n--1nP (3-pm thickness) and n--1nGaAs (2pmthickness), continuously grown on an n+-InP substrate by LPE. The substrate used is a S-doped (100) InP
substrate with an etch-pit density (EPD) of less than 2000
cm-2. The carrierdensities of n--1nP and n--1nGaAs are
both 4-5 X
cmm3.The lattice mismatch (Aula) between the InGaAs epitaxial layer and the InP substrate is
[11]-[13].
controlled to be -7 X

B. Tapered-MesaConjiguration
A taper-etching technique is employed for etching the
n--1nGaAs layer. This technique makes the fabrication
process very simple, as compared with the conventional
mesa diode.
C. Mask-Free Difision Process
Zn diffusion is carried out without a diffusion mask such
as Si3N4and Si02 that induces a damage due to the thermal stress.

0018-9383/87/0200-0199$01.00 O 1987 IEEE

200

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON DEVICES,

ELECTRON

VOL. ED-34, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1987

combination current, the leakage current in an InP p-n

junction is calculated to be lo-'' times Zleakage for the diffusion current and lop5times Zleakage for the generationrecombination current of an InGaAs p-n junction at room
temperature. Thus the leakage currentin then--InP layer
is negligibly small. As a result, the leakagecurrent of the
CM p-i-n photodiode is decreased in spiteof the increase
in the junction area.
111. DEVICE
FABRICATION
Fabrication process of the CM p-i-n photodiode is simple and reproducible by adopting the tapered-mesa conFig. 1 . Photomicrograph of the CM p-i-n photodiode. The diameter of ihe figuration and CM structure. Fig. 2(a) to (e) shows schephotosensitive area located at the center of the chip is 80 pm.
matic cross sections of the fabrication procedures of the
CM p-i-n photodiode. First,a tapered-mesa is formed
by using H2S04 :H 2 0 2: H 2 0 = 1 : 1 :5 etchant at room
n--lnGaAs
n--lnP
temperatureas
shown inFig.2(a).The
surface of
n * - l n P substrate
n--1nGaAs
has been chemically treated with
(a)
H2S0, :H202:HzO= 1 : 1 : 125 solution prior to the
photoresist coating in order to provide side etching. We
Zn - diffused
layer
found that the etching rate. of the surface-treated layer
was twice as fast as that of the n--1nGaAs bulk when
H2S04:H202:H 2 0 = 1 : 1 : 5 etchant was used. The surface-treated layer was analyzed to explain this phenomenon. As203was detected in the surface-treated layer using
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the surface-treated
layer was easily removed by buffered HF. From these results, it seems that As203in the surface-treated layer enhances the etching rate. Therefore, side etching, which
produces the tapered-mesa shape, can be processed with
good reproducibility. Secondly , Zn diffusion over the sur(dl
face is performed at 500C for 20 min in a fused silica
Bondlnq pad
AR coat
,Cr/Pt/Au
ampoule as shown in Fig. 2(b). The Zn diffusion depths
in the n--1nGaAs and n--1nP are determined to be 0.6
and 1.7 pm, respectively, from the
delineation etching
technique using K3Fe(CN)6:KOH : HzO solution. The Zn
(e)
difhsion depth in InPis about three times deeper than that
Fig. 2. Schematic cross sections o f fabrication procedures of the CM
in InGaAs.A good p-n junction is produced because there
p-i-n photodiode; (a) tapered-mesa formation, (b) Zn-difision over the
is no diffusion mask such as Si3N4or Si02, which induces
surface, (c) etching of the InGaAs layer surrounding the tapered-mesa
damage due to the thermal stress. Next, the InGaAs layer
shaped InGaAs layer, (d) Si3N4/Si02deposition, (e) metallization and
AR coating.
surrounding the tapered-mesa shaped InGaAs layer is removed using H2S04 :H202:H 2 0 = 1 : 1 : 5 etchant as
shown in Fig. 2(c). The essential CM structure is formed
D. Covered Mesa Structure
by a simple process at this stage. 30-nm-thick Si3N4and
The property of an InGaAs surface is unstable [14] due 1-pm-thick Si02 are formed on the surface by a plasmato the narrow bandgap (Eg = 0.73 eV), and the surface
assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and a thermal
leakage current of an InGaAs p-n junction without passi- CVD, respectively, as shown in Fig. 2(d). Thethin Si3N4
vation is very large. A polyimide film is available for the film, which is deposited at a temperature of 350C and a
reduction of the surface leakage current of an InGaAs power of 200 W (0.6 W/cm2) for 30 s, serves as a surface
p-n junction 115). The leakage current, however, is still passivation of the p-n junction and the thick SiOz film
large and it increases in the bias-temperature (BT) test reduces the capacitance of the bonding pad down to 0.27
[ 161. Since thetapered-mesa structure of the InGaAs layer pF. A Cr/Pt/Au electrode providing the ohmic contact to
is covered with the Zn-diffused layer in the CM
p-i-n pho- the Zn diffused InGaAs layer and forming the bonding
todiode as illustrated in Fig. 2(e), the surface leakage cur- pad on the thick SiO, film is patterned using the lift-off
rent of an InGaAs p-n junction is not seen. The surface technique. Finally, 165-pm-thick Si3N4for an anti-reflecp-n junction appears in the n--1nP layer. Since the leak- tion (AR) coating is deposited by the plasma CVD and
age current zleakage 0: exp (- Eg/kT) for the diffusion cur- then a Cr/Pt/Au electrode is deposited to the bottom side
rent and z1eakage cc exp (- Eg12kT) for the generation-re- as shown in Fig. 2(e).

OHNAKA et 01.: PHOTODIODE WITH COVERED MESA STRUCTURE

10-12

'

'

20 1

REVERSE BIAS VOLTAGE ( V )

I

0
10 20 30 40 50 60
REVERSE BIAS VOLTAGE ( V )

(a)
10-6 -

Fig. 3 . Dark current as a function of the reverse bias voltage VRof the CM
p-i-n photodiode.

10-7

Iv.

DEVrCECHARACTERISTICS
The dark current as a function of the reverse bias voltage V, of a C M p-i-n photodiode sample, exhibiting the
lowest dark current characteristic, is shown in Fig. 3. The
device, with a 80-pm-diameter photosensitive area, shows
a dark current as. low as 20 pA at a reverse bias voltage
V, of 10 V. This value is approximately one-half lower
than that reported in the semi-insulating InP cap structure
101.
Fig. 4(a) shows the dark currents as a function of the
reverse bias voltage of a CM p-i-n photodiode sample,
obtained from another wafer (#341), at various temperatures. The darkcurrent is the sum of the
diffusion current,
tunneling current, and the generation current in the bulk,
surface, and heterointerface. The components of the dark
current are analyzed as follows:

w
3
"

Zdi,

I,{ 1 - exp ( -qVR/kT)}

where q is the electronic charge, k Boltzmann's constant,

and T the junction temperature. The saturation current Z,
is
~

Is = qn:(Dn/rd)112A/NA
where T~ is the minority-carrier diffusion lifetime, A the
area of the depletion boundary in the p-InGaAs region,
N A the doping density, and D, the minority-carrier diffusion constant in the p-region. The diffusion constant is
obtained from the appropriate carrier mobility p , using
the Einstein's relation D J p , = kT/q. ni is the intrinsic
carrier density given by
ni = 2 ( 4 ~ ~ r n , r n ~ k ~T3I2
/ h ~exp
) ~ (-Eg12kT)
/~
where me and ??ah are the effective mass of the electron and
hole, respectively, and h Planck's constant. The diffusion
current due to carriers generated in the n-region can be
neglected because the minority-carrier density in the n-InP layeris lo-'' times that in the n--1nGaAs layer. The

10-10

d
CURRENT
10-12 -

2.5
3.0
3-5
4 0
RECIPROCAL OF TEMPERATURE
100O/T (K-')

A. Difision Current
Since at high temperature (145C) the dark current of
the CM p-i-n photodiode varies little with bias voltage,
the dominant source of the dark current is probably the
diffusion current. The diffusion current of the CM p-i-n
photodiode due to thermally generated minority carriers
diffusing into the depletion region is given by [17]

VR' 5 v

Fig. 4. (a) Dark current as a function of the reverse bias voltage VRof the
CM p-i-n photodiode at various temperatures. (b) Dark current as a function of reciprocal of temperature: The dashed line shows the calculated
diffusion current component, and the solid line the sum of the diffusion,
bulk generation, heterointerface generation, and tunneling components
at V, = 5 , 10, and 50 V. The dash-dot line shows the sum of the calculated components at VR = 50 V when No = 4.0 X loJ5~ m - ~ .

calculated diffusion current component is shown in Fig.

4(b) with a dashed line, which is in good agreement with
the measured data at higher temperature. The diffusion
lifetime o f the minority carrier is estimated to be 182 ps,
which is in good agreement with the previous work 1171.

B. Bulk Generation Current

The generation current dominates at low temperatures.
The current due to the generation of hole-electron pairs
in the depletion region of the InGaAs bulk is
zgen(bulk)

= (qniAWfTeff)
{ - exp (-qVR/2kT)

where T~~ is effective lifetime. Here, W is the depletion

region width, which for an abrupt junction is written as

w = { (24qND)(VR + V b i ) } 1'2
where Vbiis the bui1t;in potential, No the carrier density
of the InGaAs, and whichfor a one-sided abrupt junction
is given by qVbi = Eg + kT In (NAND/$). The bulk generation current is estimated from the temperature dependence of the dark current at V, = 5 V by subtracting the
diffusion component.The effective lifetime T , is
~ estimated to be 81 p s , which is longer than that of previous
work [ 181. It is considered that the density of traps ,which
generate the carriers, is low because there is no surface
p-n junction occurring in the InGaAs andthe Zn diffusion
is carried out without a diffusion mask in the CM p-i-n
photodiode.

202

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. ED-34, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1987

Since the surface p-n junction occurs in then--InB

layer, the temperature dependence of the surface generaloc exp { -E,,,,,,/2kT)
,
tion current is given by Igen(surFace)
which indicates that the surface generation current has a
similar temperature dependence to the diffusion current.
As is expected, the surface generation current can be neglected because the dark current has a weak dependence
on the reverse bias voltage at 145C.

C. Heterointerface Generation Currerzt

One notices that,at VR = 7 V, the darkcurrent increases abruptly (see Fig. 4(a)), which may be explained
by the influence of the generation-recombination centers
at the heterointerface between n--1nGaAs and n--InP
[131. In the range of 0 < V, < 7 V, the depletion layer
spreads intothe n--1nGaAs layer, resulting in the increase in the dark current. At VR = 7 V, the depletion
layer reaches the heterointerface between n--1nGaAs and
n--InP, in which many generation-recombination centers
may be included; then the dark current increases abruptly.
When V, > 7 V, the abrupt increase of the dark current
stops. In this range, the dark current may be dominated
by the generation of hole-electron pairs at the heterointerface at lower temperature. This abrupt increase in the
dark current can be observedby every chipin an epitaxial
wafer. Some epitaxial wafers, however, do not show this.
Consequently, the state of the heterointerface seems to be
very sensitive to the LPE growth condition. The heterointerface generation current can be expressed by the simplified form
Igen(hetem)

qurhNtniA/2

where Nt is the trap density at the heterointerface, cr the

capture cross section of the carrier, and Uth the carrier
thermal velocity equal to (3 kT/m)*. The heterointerface
generation current is estimated from the temperature dependence on the darkcurrent at VR = 10 V by subtracting
the diffusion and bulk generation components. The trap
density at the heterointerface Nt is estimated to be 4 X
10
if the capture cross section of the carrier u =
3 X
cm2 is assumed.
D. Tunneling Current
The tunneling current dominates the dark current at
higher voltage and is given for band-to-band
tunneling
through a triangular barrier by [ 171, [191
ltun

=
*

{ (2%)

112

112

q Em V R I fi~ E,
~ )

A exp { -4(2rnf2

Ey/3qEmA)

where h is Plancks constant divided by 2a and E, the

maximum electric field given by E, = 2(VR -k Vbi)/W.
The tunneling current is estimated from the dark current
at V, = 50 V by subtracting abovementionedcomponents. The dark currents differ from the calculated values
at lower temperatures. It is considered that the carrier
density No of the n--1nGaAs layer varies with the temperature. If a small variation of the carrier density from

TABLE I
SUMMARY
OF InGaAs PARAMETERS
Parameter

UnitSymbol

Value

cev
0.732

Energy gap a t 27C

Energy gap t e m p e r a t u r e

- 3 . ~ 1 0 - ~ CeV/Kl

c o e f f i c i e n t (aE /4T)
Electroneffective

mass

0.034

ratio
Kole e f f e c t i v e mass

0.4

ratio
Electronmobility

1.1~10~

c ~ ~ ~ ; v ~ w I

Minoritycarrier

182

L ps+c

E f f e c t i v el i f e t i m e

51

L ysec 1

D i e l e c t r i cc o n s t a n t

12

C a r r i e rd e n s i t y

of

4.3x10~

~ c m - ~ ]

of

1.OX1018

icm-3,

lifetime

e p i t a x i a ll a y e r
Carrierdensity
Z n - d i f f u s e dl a y e r

No = 4 . 3 X l O I 5 cm-3 to 4.0 x 1015 cmW3i s assumed,

the calculated dark currents vary to the values indicated
by the dash-dot line in Fig. 4(b), which is in good agreement with the measured values, owing to the strong dependence of It,, on Em cc Ng2.
The excellent fit to the measured diode characteristics
(see Fig. 4(b)) indicates that the sources of the dark current are fully described. Values of the parameters are
summarized in Table I. The current-voltage characteristic
of Fig. 3, in which there is no abrupt increase in the dark
current, agrees with the calculated value using the parameters given in Table I when the heterointerface generation
current is omitted. Therefore,a good heterointerface may
be obtained on the wafer of Fig. 3 .
At V, = 52 to 56 V, the device shows a breakdown at
room temperature. The breakdown voltage has a positive
temperature dependence,whichmeans
the avalanche
breakdown occurs. Thetemperaturedependence coefficient is estimated to be 0.043 V/K. The breakdown voltage V, is givenby the following empirical formula at room
temperature [ 191:

VB = 60 {Eg(eV)/l.1}3/2 {ND(CIT-)/~~~)-~~
(v).
The breakdown voltage of the InGaAs junction is calculated to be 56 V, and that of the p-n junction in InP surrounding the mesa to be 52 V, then the depletion region
sweeps out the n--1nP layer, and that of the InP curved
junction to be 57 V . The measured breakdown voltages
agree with these calculated values. Although the breakdown is not an -essential characteristic in a p-i-n photodiode, the InP junction can be utilized as a guard ring if

203

OHNAKA et al.: PHOTODIODE WITH COVERED MESA STRUCTURE

10
1 a 0

0
l 80

FORWARD CURRENT
-

[L

F
.,=.

_._,

VR i1ov r

u
l

1.5

1.0

2>
t

05

z
20

10-20

0.2

04

0.6

FORWARD BIAS VOLTAGE ( V )

Fig. 5. Forward current IF and the ideality factor n as a function of the

forward bias voltage VFof the CM p-i-n photodiode. The solid line shows
the forward current and the dashed line shows the ideality factor.

o o v l
80

the thickness of the ri--1nP layer and Zn-diffusion depth

are~designedappropriately.
The capacitance of the CM p-i-n photodiode is measured to be 2.2and 0.9-pF at a reverse bias voltage V, of
0 and 10 V, respectively, including the bonding-pad capacitance of 0.27 pF. Both of the carrier densities of n-InGaAs and n--1nP are estimated to be 4-5 X l O I 5 cm-3
from the capacitance-voltage data. The cutoff frequency
of the CM p-i-n photodiode for the50-0 load at a reverse
bias voltage VR of 10 V is measured to be over 1 GHz.
The CM p-i-n photodiode can be operated in the wavelength range of 1 .O-1.6 pm. The responsivity of the CM
p-i-n photodiode is measured to be R = 0.76 A/W at the
wavelength of 1.3 pm.
Although the main interest in this work is focused on
the dark current characteristics under reverse bias conditions, the forward characteristics are also shown in Fig.
5. For a forwardbiased diode, the ideality factor n defined
by the equation

IF = I,, exp (qVFlnkT)

50
100
150
DARK CURRENT ( p A 1

V,=lOV

DARK CURRENT [ P A )

(b)
Fig. 6 . Histograms of the dark current at V, = 10 V of the two wafers.

V . CONCLUSION
We have demonstrated anew developed CM p-i-n photodiode with an extremely low dark current of 20 pA and
a high yield of 80 percent. The extremely low dark current characteristic is provided by theCM structure, in
which a tapered-mesa shape InGaAsis covered with a Zndiffused layer in order to reduce the surface leakage current. The high yield of the dark current is provided by a
tapered mesa configuration, which. makes the fabrication
process simple, and a Zn-diffusion procedure without a
mask such as Si3N4or SiOz that induces a damage due to
thermal stress. From these excellent characteristics, we
believe that the CM p-i-n photodiode becomes very attractive for applications to optical-fiber communications
in the long-wavelength range.

is a parameter, which indicates a dominant source of current. The ideality factor n of the CM p-i-n photodiode is
measured to be just 1, which suggests that the dominant
source is the diffusion current. Therefore, thegenerationrecombination current in the bulk andsurface, which gives
n = 2 in the above equation, is negligibly small. This
result is consistent with the chakacteristic in the reversebiased condition.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The histograms of the dark current at V, = 10 V of the
two wafers are shown in Fig. 6(a) and (b). 414 chips in
The authors would like to thank T. Kajiwara for contwo wafersare tested. Theyields of wafers.#342 and#351 tinuous encouragement, Dr. M. Ogura for useful suggesare 79 and 80 percent, respectively. The average values tions, and K. Hasegawa, T. Terashige, and A. Watanabe
of the dark current are 53 and 107 PA, and the standard for the fabrication process.
deviations 27 and 30 PA, respectively. The slight difference between these two wafers seems to
be caused by the
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[I81 S. R. Forrest, R.F. Leheny, R. E. Nahory, and M. A. Pollack,
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1191 S. M. Sze, Physics of Semiconductor Devices, 2nd ed. New York:
Wiley, 1981.
-

Kiyoshi Ohnaka was born in Osaka, Japan, on

January 15, 1954. He received the B.S. and M.E.
degrees in electric engineering from Osaka PrefectureUniversity,Osaka,
Japan, in1976and
1978, respectively.
In 1978. he ioined Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan, and engaged in the
development of low-noise JFETs. Since 1981, he
hasbeenworkingonthedevelopmentofoptoelectronic devices using the InGaAslInP system.
Mr. Ohnaka is a member of the Japan Society
I

of Applied Physics.

Minoru Kubo was born in Tochigi,Japan, on

September4, 1957. He received the B.S. and M.S.
degrees in physicsfromSophiaUniversity,Tokyo, Japan, in 1980 and 1982, respectively.
In 1982, he joined Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan, and has been working on the development of optoelectronic devices
using the InGaAslInP system.
Mr. Kubo is a member of the Japan Society of
Applied Physics and the Physical Society of Japan.

Jun Shibata was born in Tokyo, Japan, on October 27, 1948. He receivedtheB.S.,degree
in
electric engineering fromTokyoElectricEngineering College, Tokyo, Japan, in 1971.
In 1971, he joined Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan, and engaged in the
development of silicon.VLS1. Since 1981, he has
of optoelecbeenworkingonthedevelopment
tronic ICs (OEICs) using the InGaAsPlInP system.
Mr.Shibata is a member of the Institute of
Electronics and the Communication Engineers of Japan