METAL-SEMICONDUCTOR-METAL PHOTODETECTORS AND MODULATORS FOR LONG-WAVELENGTH APPLICATIONS - OPTIMIZATION OF SOLID SOURCE MOLECULAR-BEAM EPITAXY OF ALINAS (AL)GAINAS-HETEROSTRUCTURES/

Solid source molecular beam epitaxial (MBE) growth of AlInAs/(Al)GaInA s heterostructures for applications in metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors and electrooptic MSM modulators has been optimized wit h regard to high frequency performance. The influence of the thickness of an AlInAs barrier enhancement layer on the dynamical characteristi cs is also investigated. In contrast to the commonly chosen thickness of about 10 nm we show that an increase to 100 nm AlInAs results in ba ndwidth enhancement and noise reduction. Using these improved structur es with breakdown voltages exceeding V-B = 100 V for electrooptic swit ching we attain an on-off-ratio of 19:1.