Shot Noise Suppression in Avalanche Photodiodes

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.