Software simulation of the impact ionisation process in avalanche diodes

• Main Author: Zwe, Set Naing
• Other Authors: Ng Beng Koon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/167819
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

When the impact ionisation occurs in a region of high electric field in a photodiode, it results in multiplication of carriers due to the avalanche effect. This principle and process allows the detection of individual photons that enters the avalanche photodiode (APD) even under low light signals. Since the multiplication region of an APD plays an important role in determining the resultant gain, the excess noise factor, and the gain-bandwidth product, numerous research programs have focused on optimizing the multiplication region to improve the APD performance. For such studies and research programs, it is immensely helpful to have a software that can calculate both the multiplication factor and excess noise factor. In this software, random-path length model will be used to calculate the multiplication factor and excess noise factor as well as provide real time graphical display of the impact ionisation during simulation runs.