Impact of local-negative-feedback on the MRS avalanche photodetector operation

Metal-Resistance-Semiconductor (MRS) photodetectors are characterized by a resistive layer placed in series to an avalanching region. In this paper, we report the characterization of such devices, we define a parameter extraction procedure, and we derive a quantitative model of the MRS operation. Due to the presence of the ohmic layer, the detector works as an ensemble of pixels with separately stabilized operating bias. In this way, compared to avalanche photodiodes (APDs), MRS achieve superior gain uniformity with the same sensitive area. However, there are still aspects of the fabrication technology and of the detector structure which have to be improved.