Overview and prospects on antimony-containing avalanche photodetector materials

Based upon significant latent capacity of antimony-containing avalanche photodetectors in comparison with other materials such as Si or GaInAs in certain applications, the material characteristics beginning from ensemble geometric schematics to respective essential features of binary, ternary, and quaternary antimonides, including their applicability and restrictivity, are analyzed and summarized. Under the scope of the separate-absorption–multiplication avalanche photodetector scheme, the options of absorption and multiplication materials mainly concentrated on the benefit of multiplication and coverage of absorption, as well as recommendation of combinations, including grading choices, are discussed. In conjunction with a simple review of previous efforts, overview and prospects on the development of antimonide APDs are presented. Resulting information is also worthy for other types of antimonide devices.