Fang Yu-Qiang, Luo Kai, Gao Xing-Guo, Huo Gai-Qing, Zhong Ang, Liao Peng-Fei, Pu Pu, Bao Xiao-Hui, Chen Yu-Ao, Zhang Jun, Pan Jian-Wei
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Sichuan Institute of Solid-State Circuits, China Electronics Technology Group Corp., Chongqing 400060, China.
Rev Sci Instrum. 2020 Dec 1;91(12):123106. doi: 10.1063/5.0034458.
Silicon single-photon detectors (SPDs) are key devices for detecting single photons in the visible wavelength range. Photon detection efficiency (PDE) is one of the most important parameters of silicon SPDs, and increasing PDE is highly required for many applications. Here, we present a practical approach to increase the PDE of silicon SPDs with a monolithic integrated circuit of active quenching and active reset (AQAR). The AQAR integrated circuit is specifically designed for thick silicon single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) with high breakdown voltage (250 V-450 V) and then fabricated via the process of high-voltage 0.35-μm bipolar-CMOS-DMOS. The AQAR integrated circuit implements the maximum transition voltage of ∼68 V with 30 ns quenching time and 10 ns reset time, which can easily boost PDE to the upper limit by regulating the excess bias up to a high enough level. By using the AQAR integrated circuit, we design and characterize two SPDs with the SPADs disassembled from commercial products of single-photon counting modules (SPCMs). Compared with the original SPCMs, the PDE values are increased from 68.3% to 73.7% and 69.5% to 75.1% at 785 nm, respectively, with moderate increases in dark count rate and afterpulse probability. Our approach can effectively improve the performance of the practical applications requiring silicon SPDs.
硅单光子探测器（SPD）是用于探测可见波长范围内单光子的关键器件。光子探测效率（PDE）是硅SPD最重要的参数之一，许多应用都迫切需要提高PDE。在此，我们提出一种实用方法，通过有源猝灭和有源复位（AQAR）的单片集成电路来提高硅SPD的PDE。AQAR集成电路是专门为具有高击穿电压（250 V - 450 V）的厚硅单光子雪崩二极管（SPAD）设计的，然后通过高压0.35 - μm双极互补金属氧化物半导体 - 双扩散金属氧化物半导体工艺制造。AQAR集成电路在30 ns猝灭时间和10 ns复位时间下实现了约68 V的最大转换电压，通过将过偏置调节到足够高的水平，可以轻松地将PDE提高到上限。通过使用AQAR集成电路，我们设计并表征了两个SPD，其SPAD是从单光子计数模块（SPCM）的商业产品中拆解出来的。与原始SPCM相比，在785 nm处，PDE值分别从68.3%提高到73.7%和从69.5%提高到75.1%，暗计数率和后脉冲概率略有增加。我们的方法可以有效提高需要硅SPD的实际应用的性能。
