The ballistic APD: An ultra-Low noise avalanche photodiode with nearly equal ionization probabilities.

Avalanche photodiode structures are proposed which theoretically exhibit very low excess noise. In these designs, the hole and electron ionization probabilities are made very close to unity for a single pass of the multiplication region. This is accomplished by ballistic injection into the multiplication region. The structures are less complex than other proposed low noise avalanche photodiode structures.