Proton radiation effect on InAs avalanche photodiodes

With increasing interest over the past decade in space-related remote sensing and communications using near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths, there is a need for radiation studies on NIR avalanche photodiodes (APDs), due to the high radiation environment in space. In this work, we present an experimental study of proton radiation effects on performance parameters of InAs APDs, whose sensitivity extends from visible light to ~3.5 μm. Three irradiation energies (10.0, 31.4, and 58.8 MeV) and four fluences (10⁹ to 10¹¹ p/cm²) were used. At the harshest irradiation condition (10.0 MeV energy and 10¹¹ p/cm² fluence) the APDs' avalanche gain and leakage current showed a measurable degradation. However, the responsivity of the APDs was unaffected under all conditions tested. The data reported in this article are available from the figshare digital repository (DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15131/shef.

4560562).