Readout schemes for low noise single-photon avalanche diodes fabricated in conventional HV-CMOS technologies

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThree different pixels based on single-photon avalanche diodes for triggered applications, such as fluorescence lifetime measurements and high energy physics experiments, are presented. Each pixel consists of a 20 mm  100 mm (width  length) single photon avalanche diode and a monolithically integrated readout circuit. The sensors are operated in the gated mode of acquisition to reduce the probability to detect noise counts interferring with real radiation events. Each pixel includes a different readout circuit that allows to use low reverse bias overvoltages. Experimental results demonstrate that the three pixels present a similar behavior. The pixels get rid of afterpulses and present a reduced dark count probability by applying the gated operation. Noise figures are further improved by using low reverse bias overvoltages. The detectors exhibit an input dynamic range of 13.35 bits with short gated 'on' periods of 10 ns and a reverse bias overvoltage of 0.5 V. The three pixels have been fabricated in a standard HV-CMOS process.

Dynamic range extension of SiPM detectors with the time-gated operation

“…For this purpose, the noise counts of all the cells recorded in the dark during the integration time were averaged over all the repetitions: . This result is not biased by the overall efficiency of the detector, which is maximum for gated-on periods longer than 1 ns [18]. Consequently, the effective dynamic range, which is defined as the percentage of available cells with respect to the total number of cells of the detector, is reduced as the gated-on period is increased.…”

“…During the experiment, the time-gated dSiPM was operated with different gated-on periods that range from 200 ns to 3.2 µs, a gated-off period of 1 µs and a reverse bias overvoltage of 1 V. The duration of the gated-off period was chosen to strongly reduce the presence of afterpulses [18], in addition to prevent the data acquisition system from working to the limit. The introduction of a long enough gated-off period suppresses the need for active quenching circuits, which are difficult to implement successfully in monolithically integrated technologies and also area consuming [19].…”

A simple Monte Carlo model for performance optimization of single photon avalanche diode

“…Then, they randomly hit the lattice to generate new carriers, in a process called impact ionization. At this time, both the original carrier and the newly generated carrier will undergo impact ionization [10][11][12]. This makes the number of carriers increase sharply, and the output current of the device increases.…”

Dynamic Range Extension of a SPAD Imager Using Non-Uniformity Correction Techniques

“…For this particular experiment, discrete measurements with gatedon and gated-off intervals of 10 ns and 1 μs were used. With gated-on periods of 10 ns, the sensor is fully efficient [18]. The number of repetitions of the gated-on and gated-off cycle was 10•10 6 times.…”