Radiation Hardness Study of Single-Photon Avalanche Diode for Space and High Energy Physics Applications

Abstract

The radiation hardness of 180 nm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) and 55 nm bipolar–CMOS–double-diffused MOS single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) is studied using 10 MeV and 100 MeV protons up to a displacement damage dose of 1 PeV/g. It is found that the dark count rate (DCR) levels are dependent on the number and the type of defects created. A new stepwise increase in the DCR is presented. Afterpulsing was found to be a significant contributor to the observed DCR increase. A new model for DCR increase prediction is proposed considering afterpulsing. Most of the samples under test retain reasonable DCR levels after irradiation, showing high tolerance to ionizing and displacement damage caused by protons. Following irradiation, self-healing was observed at room temperature. Furthermore, high-temperature annealing shows potential for accelerating recovery. Overall, the results show the suitability of SPADs as optical detectors for long-term space missions or as detectors for high-energy particles.

Effect of Proton Irradiation on Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes

“…The effects of displacement damage on semiconductor materials and devices can be understood in terms of the energy levels introduced in the bandgap. Those radiation-induced levels result in the following effects: the recombination lifetime and diffusion length are reduced; the generation lifetime decreases; majority-carrier and minority-carrier trapping increase; the majority-carrier concentration changes; the thermal generation of electron-hole pairs is enhanced in the presence of a sufficiently high electric field; tunneling at junctions is enabled; and radiation-induced defects reduce the carrier mobility and can exhibit metastable configurations [40,41].…”

Monolithic MHz-frame rate digital SiPM-IC with sub-100 ps precision and 70 μm pixel pitch

“…Arrays of SPADs are highlighted as ideal candidates when high sensitivity is required together with high frame rate and precise timing resolutions [4]. As stated in [5], the capability of photon counting makes SPADs the detector of choice for applications in which conventional photodiodes and charge-coupled devices cannot be used, and a large number of applications for SPAD arrays are listed. Beside the usage as imaging device, e.g.…”

Comparison of Proton and Gamma Irradiation on Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes

“…In 1999, McIntyre et al established a comprehensive theoretical model for the impact ionization process of SPADs [8,9]. After 60 years of rapid development, the materials, structures and circuits of SPADs have been optimized, and the type and performance of 2 of 14 SPADs have been significantly improved, accelerating the large-scale application of singlephoton detectors in fields such as quantum communication, light detection and ranging (LIDAR), and medical detection [5,[10][11][12][13]. The key to the performance improvement is the availability of high-quality materials with higher purity and fewer defects, as well as novel SPAD structures.…”