Excess-noise and receiver sensitivity measurements of In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As/InP avalanche photodiodes

We report the results of excess-noise and normalised receiver sensitivity measurements for In0.53Ga0.47As/InP avalanche photodiodes for use in the λ=0.95 μm to 1.65 μm spectral region. The excess-noise measurements are consistent with a hole-to-electron ionisation rate ratio in InP of ∼ 0.4. The receiver sensitivity, measured at 45 Mbit/s and 10−9 bit-error-rate, was −53.2 dBm at a gain of 20 assuming unity quantum efficiency for the detector. This sensitivity is the highest reported at λ=1.3 μm and represents an improvement over a PIN detector using the same amplifier.