title: Shot noise suppression in avalanche photodiodes.
abstract: We identify a new shot noise suppression mechanism in a thin (approximately 100 nm) heterostructure avalanche photodiode. In the low-gain regime the shot noise is suppressed due to temporal correlations within amplified current pulses. We demonstrate in a Monte Carlo simulation that the effective excess noise factors can be < 1, and reconcile the apparent conflict between theory and experiments. This shot noise suppression mechanism is independent of known mechanisms such as Coulomb interaction, or reflection at heterojunction interfaces.
authors.affiliation: Microelectronics Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Shuling
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Joe C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Campbell