Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes
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Detectors 64-67_LPx110211_LPX14*_ahx 17.12.2013 9:50 Uhr Seite 64 64l LASER+ PHOTONICS 2014l SENSORS & METROLOGY Example of a SPAD mod- ule: Laser Components Count series of photon counting systems, red and blue enhanced versions with fiber coupling Single-photon avalanche diodes MORE EFFICIENT SINGLE-PHOTON DETECTORS. 25 years ago, no-one could have imagined the importance of single-photon detection in the 21st Century. Today, this technology is a reliable tool for both scientists and engineers for the detec- tion of extremely weak light signals. MIKE HODGES The photomultiplier STEPHANIE GRABHER The photomultiplier tube (PMT) is a variant of the vacuum tube. The PMT makes use of the photoelectric effect and subsequent ingle-photon detectors are used for applications amplification in a secondary electron amplifier section to turn where traditional detectors can no longer discern the a single incident photon into an electrical signal. The (electron) Sdifference between signal and noise. Prominent ap- amplification process is equivalent to an avalanche effect, the plication examples here are quantum cryptography, spec- result being a measureable electrical pulse at the anode of the troscopy, LIDAR, DNA analysis, particle measurements, electron amplifier. However, for this process to succeed, PMTs fluorescence microscopy or detection of single molecules. require the use of very high voltages (1 to 3 kV). A schematic The order of magnitude of the signal intensities involved in this of a PMT is shown in Figure 2. regime make the term ›single-photon detection‹ self-explana- For the detection of single photons, a PMT can be operated in tory. The number of photons per second that correspond to a the so-called Geiger mode. The restriction here is that the very particular optical power is given by the following formula: high transient currents that follow each photon event must first again return to zero (the so-called ›dead time‹) before the N(λ)=5.03×1015⋅λ⋅P detector is ready to detect the next photon. Assorted cathode materials with varying spectral properties are where P is the optical power in watts and λ is the wavelength employed depending on the spectral window of interest. While in nanometers. Accordingly, 1 fW of optical power at a wave- these materials were originally most sensitive in the UV and length of 405 nm corresponds to around 2000 photons per blue regions of the spectrum, PMTs today have a greatly second (Figure 1). improved IR performance. PMTs also usu- Although the application areas men- CONTACT ally exhibit a relatively large detection area tioned above differ greatly, the common (up to 75 mm diameter), although these aspect to all is the demand for a high- LASER COMPONENTS GMBH must then also be cooled in order to re- efficiency single-photon detector with 82140 Olching, Germany duce dark noise to an absolute minimum. minimum background noise. Various de- Tel. +49 8142 2864765 PMTs are very sensitive to external mag- [email protected] tector technologies well suited to this www.lasercomponents.com netic fields and are also inclined to exhibit purpose are discussed in the following. so-called ›afterpulsing‹ – an effect in- 08/19 / V02 IF lc/publications/single-photon-avalanche-diodes Internet-PDF-Datei. Diese PDF Datei enthält das Recht zur unbeschränkten Intranet- und Internetnutzung,© CARL HANSER sowie VERLAG, zur MUNICH 1 Verbreitung über elektronische Verteiler. Eine Verbreitung in gedruckter Form ist mit dieser PDF-Datei nicht gestattet. Germany & Other Countries France United Kingdom Nordic Countries USA Laser Components GmbH Laser Components S.A.S. Laser Components (UK) Ltd. Laser Components Nordic AB Laser Components USA, Inc. Tel: +49 8142 2864 – 0 Tel: +33 1 39 59 52 25 Tel: +44 1245 491 499 Tel: +46 31 703 71 73 Tel: +1 603 821 – 7040 Fax: +49 8142 2864 – 11 Fax: +33 1 39 59 53 50 Fax: +44 1245 491 801 Fax: +46 31 703 71 01 Fax: +1 603 821 – 7041 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.lasercomponents.com www.lasercomponents.fr www.lasercomponents.co.uk www.lasercomponents.se www.laser-components.com Detectors 64-67_LPx110211_LPX14*_ahx 17.12.2013 9:50 Uhr Seite 65 SENSORS & METROLOGYl LASER+ PHOTONICS 2014l 65 gion, rather than being amplified in an electron amplifier section of a conven- 108 tional PMT. The principal advantage of 107 this approach is the almost non-exis- tence of afterpulsing effects, with addi- 6 10 tional plus factors being the large active 105 area (on the mm scale) and the good time resolution. The down side is the 4 10 awkward handling requirements for 103 these systems (over 8000 V at the pho- tocathode), the limited spectral range 2 10 405 nm and the need for low-noise electronics number of photons / second 670 nm 810 nm 101 downstream of the detector itself in or- 1550 nm der to ensure low dark count rates. 100 10–18 10–17 10–16 10–15 10–14 10–13 10–12 10–11 Single-photon optical power [W] avalanche diodes 1 Wavelength-dependent correlation between optical power and Contrary to conventional pin-photo- the number of incident photons diodes, avalanche photodiodes make © LASER+PHOTONICS use of an avalanche breakdown to pro- vide amplification (and thus high sensi- duced by the outgoing electrical pulse that does not correspond tivity) internally. A requisite for this process is a high reverse bias, to the incoming (optical) signal. extending the absorption region in the APD and thus enabling sufficient electron-hole pair production via impact ionization. APD array These secondary electrons are drawn through the transit region Photodiodes also make use of the photoelectric effect for the gen- by the high voltage, causing further impact ionizations (multipli- eration of electron-hole pairs and thus lead to the corresponding cation) and thus yielding the desired avalanche effect (Figure 3). photocurrent. Recently, ›multipixel- avalanche photodiodes‹ have Conventional APDs are operated below the breakdown voltage, been developed, based on CMOS technology and also utilizing but if the reverse bias voltage is too low, (frictional/collisional) the Geiger mode for operation. Also known as ›silicon photomul- losses in the semiconductor material cause the avalanche effect tipliers‹, these detectors are noted for their compact form factor, to be too strongly damped. APDs can also be operated above low cost, low voltage requirements and large active area togeth- their breakdown voltage (Geiger mode) and are then specially er with good time resolution. However, still today there are un- designed to promote the avalanche effect. With an internal am- solved issues for these arrays, for example, the fact that the dark plification of up to 108 these devices are capable of detecting count rate lies several orders of magnitude higher than for con- single photon events – hence the term single-photon avalanche ventional Geiger-mode single-photon avalanche diodes. They al- diodes (SPADs). so exhibit lower quantum efficiency at longer wavelengths. This mode of operation does however lead to high currents with- in the SPAD, and these must be properly controlled if the device PMT-APD hybrid is not to remain conducting or should not become damaged. In More recently, the field has seen the introduction of PMT-APD the simplest case this is achieved through the use of a series hybrid systems – a photon is incident on a photocathode mate- resistor (passive quenching) – the voltage drop across the re- rial and frees an electron that then migrates through an APD re- sistor is responsible for the SPAD returning to its blocking state, photon cathode dynode electron R signal a output emission electrons RRRR R accelerating voltage 2 Schematic illustration of a photomultiplier tube (PMT) © LASER+PHOTONICS 08/19 / V02 IF lc/publications/single-photon-avalanche-diodes WWW.LASER-PHOTONIK.DEInternet-PDF-Datei. Diese PDF Datei enthält das Recht zur unbeschränkten Intranet- und Internetnutzung, sowie zur 2 Verbreitung über elektronische Verteiler. Eine Verbreitung in gedruckter Form ist mit dieser PDF-Datei nicht gestattet. Germany & Other Countries France United Kingdom Nordic Countries USA Laser Components GmbH Laser Components S.A.S. Laser Components (UK) Ltd. Laser Components Nordic AB Laser Components USA, Inc. Tel: +49 8142 2864 – 0 Tel: +33 1 39 59 52 25 Tel: +44 1245 491 499 Tel: +46 31 703 71 73 Tel: +1 603 821 – 7040 Fax: +49 8142 2864 – 11 Fax: +33 1 39 59 53 50 Fax: +44 1245 491 801 Fax: +46 31 703 71 01 Fax: +1 603 821 – 7041 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.lasercomponents.com www.lasercomponents.fr www.lasercomponents.co.uk www.lasercomponents.se www.laser-components.com Detectors 64-67_LPx110211_LPX14*_ahx 17.12.2013 9:50 Uhr Seite 66 66l LASER+ PHOTONICS 2014l SENSORS & METROLOGY ciency of the entire module is also affected by that of the driver electronics. For this reason the data sheets for p+ SPAD modules usually specify the photon detection ef- ficiency (Pd) – that is, the probability that an incident pho- E = hν ton results in an electrical pulse at the output of the i– stimulation by impact ionisation module. When designing a SPAD, it is important to understand that both the detection efficiency and the dark count rate complete depleted intrinsic i-layer are dependent on the bias voltage applied to the APD. As previously mentioned, the APD is operated in Geiger mode, so above the breakdown voltage (Vop>Vbr). The difference between Vop and Vbr is called overvoltage, and is chosen so as to optimize particular parameters such p as the detection efficiency. An optimization is, however, only possible when the APD at the heart of each mod- + ule is of sufficient quality.