Rad-hard, Ultra-fast, InGaAs Photodiodes for Space Applications (2006)


Abhay M Joshi*, Frank Heine**, and Thomas Feifel**
*Discovery Semiconductors, Inc. 119 Silvia St, Ewing, NJ, 08628, USA
**Tesat Spacecom GmbH, Co.KG, Gerberstr. 49, 71522, Backnang, Germany

ABSTRACT

We have manufactured rad-hard, InGaAs photodiodes using our proprietary Dual-Depletion Region (DDR) technology with bandwidths exceeding 10 GHz. The devices demonstrate high reliability and superior RF performance, thus, making them ideal for deployment in space for applications such as LIDAR and optical intersatellite links. The responsivity at 1064 nm is >0.45 A/W with optical return loss of 40 dB. The photodiodes have broad wavelength coverage from 800 nm to 1700 nm, and thus can be used at several wavelengths such as 850 nm, 1064 nm, 1310 nm, 1550 nm, and 1620 nm. The InGaAs photodiodes exhibit very low Polarization Dependence Loss (PDL) of 0.05 dB typical to 0.1 dB maximum. The typical Failure-in-time (FIT) values of these photodiodes are 0.011 and 15.384 at 25ºC and 75ºC respectively. FIT is defined as the number of failures per billion hours of operation. The photodiodes have been tested for different radiation tests such as 50 kRad gamma (Co 60) and protons with a fluence of 3 x 1011 p/cm2, and have passed typical qualification levels of random vibration....

* Paper presented at Defense and Security Symposium, Orlando, Florida, USA, 2006, Proc. SPIE Vol. 6220.

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