Observation of ballistic avalanche phenomena in nanoscale vertical InSe/BP heterostructures

Impact ionization, which supports carrier multiplication, is promising for applications in single photon detection¹ and sharp threshold swing field effect devices². However, initiating the impact ionization of avalanche breakdown requires a high applied electric field in a long active region, which hampers carrier multiplication with a high gain, low bias and superior noise performance^3,4. Here we report the observation of ballistic avalanche phenomena in sub-mean free path (MFP) scaled vertical InSe/black phosphorus (BP)^5–9 heterostructures¹⁰. We use these heterojunctions to fabricate avalanche photodetectors (APDs) with a sensitive mid-infrared light detection (4 μm wavelength) and impact ionization transistors with a steep subthreshold swing (<0.25 mV dec^–1). The devices show a low avalanche threshold (<1 V), low noise figure and distinctive density spectral shape. Our transport measurements suggest that the breakdown originates from a ballistic avalanche phenomenon, where the sub-MFP BP channel support the lattice impact ionization by electrons and holes and the abrupt current amplification without scattering from the obstacles in a deterministic nature. Our results provide new strategies for the development of advanced photodetectors^1,11,12 via efficient carrier manipulation at the nanoscale.