Room temperature operation of germanium-silicon single-photon avalanche diode

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Na, Neil, Lu, Yen-Cheng, Liu, Yu-Hsuan, Chen, Po-Wei, Lai, Ying-Chen, Lin, You-Ru, Lin, Chung-Chih, Shia, Tim, Cheng, Chih-Hao, Chen, Shu-Lu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Na, Neil
Lu, Yen-Cheng
Liu, Yu-Hsuan
Chen, Po-Wei
Lai, Ying-Chen
Lin, You-Ru
Lin, Chung-Chih
Shia, Tim
Cheng, Chih-Hao
Chen, Shu-Lu
author_facet Na, Neil
Lu, Yen-Cheng
Liu, Yu-Hsuan
Chen, Po-Wei
Lai, Ying-Chen
Lin, You-Ru
Lin, Chung-Chih
Shia, Tim
Cheng, Chih-Hao
Chen, Shu-Lu
contents The ability to detect single photons has led to the advancement of numerous research fields. Although various types of single-photon detector have been developed, because of two main factors - that is, (1) the need for operating at cryogenic temperature and (2) the incompatibility with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication processes - so far, to our knowledge, only Si-based single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) has gained mainstream success and has been used in consumer electronics. With the growing demand to shift the operation wavelength from near-infrared to short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) for better safety and performance, an alternative solution is required because Si has negligible optical absorption for wavelengths beyond 1 μm. Here we report a CMOS-compatible, high-performing germanium-silicon SPAD operated at room temperature, featuring a noise-equivalent power improvement over the previous Ge-based SPADs by 2-3.5 orders of magnitude. Key parameters such as dark count rate, single-photon detection probability at 1,310 nm, timing jitter, after-pulsing characteristic time and after-pulsing probability are, respectively, measured as 19 kHz μm^2, 12%, 188 ps, ~90 ns and <1%, with a low breakdown voltage of 10.26 V and a small excess bias of 0.75 V. Three-dimensional point-cloud images are captured with direct time-of-flight technique as proof of concept. This work paves the way towards using single-photon-sensitive SWIR sensors, imagers and photonic integrated circuits in everyday life.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_10379
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Room temperature operation of germanium-silicon single-photon avalanche diode
Na, Neil
Lu, Yen-Cheng
Liu, Yu-Hsuan
Chen, Po-Wei
Lai, Ying-Chen
Lin, You-Ru
Lin, Chung-Chih
Shia, Tim
Cheng, Chih-Hao
Chen, Shu-Lu
Instrumentation and Detectors
Optics
The ability to detect single photons has led to the advancement of numerous research fields. Although various types of single-photon detector have been developed, because of two main factors - that is, (1) the need for operating at cryogenic temperature and (2) the incompatibility with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication processes - so far, to our knowledge, only Si-based single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) has gained mainstream success and has been used in consumer electronics. With the growing demand to shift the operation wavelength from near-infrared to short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) for better safety and performance, an alternative solution is required because Si has negligible optical absorption for wavelengths beyond 1 μm. Here we report a CMOS-compatible, high-performing germanium-silicon SPAD operated at room temperature, featuring a noise-equivalent power improvement over the previous Ge-based SPADs by 2-3.5 orders of magnitude. Key parameters such as dark count rate, single-photon detection probability at 1,310 nm, timing jitter, after-pulsing characteristic time and after-pulsing probability are, respectively, measured as 19 kHz μm^2, 12%, 188 ps, ~90 ns and <1%, with a low breakdown voltage of 10.26 V and a small excess bias of 0.75 V. Three-dimensional point-cloud images are captured with direct time-of-flight technique as proof of concept. This work paves the way towards using single-photon-sensitive SWIR sensors, imagers and photonic integrated circuits in everyday life.
title Room temperature operation of germanium-silicon single-photon avalanche diode
topic Instrumentation and Detectors
Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.10379