Design of passive-quenching active-reset circuit with adjustable hold-off time for single-photon avalanche diodes

Berdalovic, I.; Osrečki, Željko; Segmanovic, Filip; Grubisic, D.; Knežević, Tihomir; Suligoj, Tomislav

doi:10.1109/mipro.2016.7522106

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although passive quench (PQ) 1,2 circuits are simple to implement they do not reset the diode quickly to its nominal state which limits their detection efficiency. P assive Quench Active Reset (PQAR) 3 circuits can provide shorter and well-defined reset times but fail to restrict the after-pulsing probability of the APD within acceptable bounds if the reset times set are too short. Active quench (AQ) 4 circuits on the other hand provide fast response and reset times while limiting the after-pulsing probability of the APDs and hence are most suitable for high detection rate applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However this method is slow and thus limits the detector performance. An improvement is the passive quench active reset (PQAR) circuit [3], which also uses a series ballast resistor to stop the avalanche, but actively restores the APD to its nominal state within a short, welldefined duration. However, its drawback is that the APD after-pulsing probability goes above acceptable bounds if the reset times are too short.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Realizing a robust, reconfigurable active quenching design for multiple architectures of single-photon avalanche detectors

Sachidananda

Gundlapalli

Leong

et al. 2022

Photonic Instrumentation Engineering IX

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Most active quench circuits used for single-photon avalanche detectors are designed either with discrete components which lack the flexibility of dynamically changing the control parameters, or with custom ASICs which require a long development time and high cost. As an alternative, we present a reconfigurable and robust hybrid design implemented using a System-on-Chip (SoC), which integrates both an FPGA and a microcontroller. We take advantage of the FPGA's speed and configuration capabilities to vary the quench and reset parameters dynamically over a large range, thus allowing our circuit to operate with a wide variety of APDs without having to re-design the system. The microcontroller enables the remote adjustment of control parameters and re-calibration of APDs in the field. The ruggedized design uses components with space heritage, thus making it suitable for space-based applications in the fields of telecommunications and quantum key distribution (QKD). We characterize our circuit with a commercial APD cooled to -20°C, and obtain a deadtime of 35ns while maintaining the after-pulsing probability at close to 3%. We also demonstrate versatility of the circuit by directly testing custom fabricated chip-scale APDs, which paves the way for automated wafer-scale testing and characterization.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Realizing a robust, reconfigurable active quenching design for multiple architectures of single-photon avalanche detectors

Sachidananda

Gundlapalli

Leong

et al. 2022

Photonic Instrumentation Engineering IX

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Therefore, the bias voltage should be adjustable and optimized to achieve best overall performance. Several SPAD-based single-photon counting modules have been developed [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] but these modules are limited in that the dead time and bias voltage of the detector are difficult to change. This limits their usefulness in varying environments and for the case where the detector needs to be changed for different measurement purposes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Implementation of a Compact Single-Photon Counting Module

Chen

Morrison

et al. 2020

Electronics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A compact single-photon counting module that can accurately control the bias voltage and hold-off time is developed in this work. The module is a microcontroller-based system which mainly consists of a microcontroller, a programmable negative voltage generator, a silicon-based single-photon avalanche diode, and an integrated active quench and reset circuit. The module is 3.8 cm × 3.6 cm × 2 cm in size and can communicate with the end user and be powered through a USB cable (5 V). In this module, the bias voltage of the single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) is precisely controllable from −14 V ~ −38 V and the hold-off time (consequently the dead time) of the SPAD can be adjusted from a few nanoseconds to around 1.6 μs with a setting resolution of ∼6.5 ns. Experimental results show that the module achieves a minimum dead time of around 28.5 ns, giving a saturation counting rate of around 35 Mcounts/s. Results also show that at a controlled reverse bias voltage of 26.8 V, the dark count rate measured is about 300 counts/s and the timing jitter measured is about 158 ps. Photodetection probability measurements show that the module is suited for detection of visible light from 450 nm to 800 nm with a 40% peak photon detection efficiency achieved at around 600 nm.

show abstract

A Review of Quenching Circuit Design Based on Geiger-Mode APD

Wang

et al. 2018

2018 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation (ICMA)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Design of passive-quenching active-reset circuit with adjustable hold-off time for single-photon avalanche diodes

Cited by 5 publications

References 9 publications

Realizing a robust, reconfigurable active quenching design for multiple architectures of single-photon avalanche detectors

Realizing a robust, reconfigurable active quenching design for multiple architectures of single-photon avalanche detectors

Design and Implementation of a Compact Single-Photon Counting Module

A Review of Quenching Circuit Design Based on Geiger-Mode APD

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About