Gigacount/second photon detection with InGaAs avalanche photodiodes

We demonstrate high count rate single photon detection at telecom wavelengths using a thermoelectrically-cooled semiconductor diode. Our device consists of a single InGaAs avalanche photodiode driven by a 2 GHz gating frequency signal and coupled to a tuneable self-differencing circuit for enhanced detection sensitivity. We find the count rate is linear with the photon flux in the single photon detection regime over approximately four orders of magnitude, and saturates at 1 gigacount/s at high photon fluxes. This result highlights promising potential for APDs in high bit rate quantum information applications.

Silicon avalanche photodiodes for low cost, high loss short wavelength radio over fiber links

An APD is shown to improve the noise figure of a lossy optical link compared to a PIN-TIA combination of equivalent gain. Transmission of IEEE 802.11g WLAN signals is demonstrated with 18dB optical link loss. © 2009 Optical Society of America.

Stable multiplication gain in GaN p-i-n avalanche photodiodes with large device area

Visible-blind p-i-n avalanche photodiodes (APDs) were fabricated with high-quality GaN epilayers deposited on c-plane sapphire substrates by metal-organic chemical vapour deposition. Due to low dislocation density and a sophisticated device fabrication process, the dark current was as small as similar to 0.05 nA under reverse bias up to 20V for devices with a large diameter of 200 mu m, which was among the largest device area for GaN-based p-i-n APDs yet reported. When the reverse bias exceeded 38V the dark current increased sharply, exhibiting a bulk avalanche field-dominated stable breakdown without microplasma formation or sidewall breakdown. With ultraviolet illumination (360 nm) an avalanche multiplication gain of 57 was achieved.

Control circuits for avalanche photodiodes

Avalanche Photodiodes (APDs) have been used in a wide range of low light sensing applications such as DNA sequencing, quantum key distribution, LIDAR and medical imaging. To operate the APDs, control circuits are required to achieve the desired performance characteristics. This thesis presents the work on development of three control circuits including a bias circuit, an active quench and reset circuit and a gain control circuit all of which are used for control and performance enhancement of the APDs. The bias circuit designed is used to bias planar APDs for operation in both linear and Geiger modes. The circuit is based on a dual charge pumps configuration and operates from a 5 V supply. It is capable of providing milliamp load currents for shallow-junction planar APDs that operate up to 40 V. With novel voltage regulators, the bias voltage provided by the circuit can be accurately controlled and easily adjusted by the end user. The circuit is highly integrable and provides an attractive solution for applications requiring a compact integrated APD device. The active quench and reset circuit is designed for APDs that operate in Geiger-mode and are required for photon counting. The circuit enables linear changes in the hold-off time of the Geiger-mode APD (GM-APD) from several nanoseconds to microseconds with a stable setting step of 6.5 ns. This facilitates setting the optimal `afterpulse-free' hold-off time for any GM-APD via user-controlled digital inputs. In addition this circuit doesn’t require an additional monostable or pulse generator to reset the detector, thus simplifying the circuit. Compared to existing solutions, this circuit provides more accurate and simpler control of the hold-off time while maintaining a comparable maximum count-rate of 35.2 Mcounts/s. The third circuit designed is a gain control circuit. This circuit is based on the idea of using two matched APDs to set and stabilize the gain. The circuit can provide high bias voltage for operating the planar APD, precisely set the APD’s gain (with the errors of less than 3%) and compensate for the changes in the temperature to maintain a more stable gain. The circuit operates without the need for external temperature sensing and control electronics thus lowering the system cost and complexity. It also provides a simpler and more compact solution compared to previous designs. The three circuits designed in this project were developed independently of each other and are used for improving different performance characteristics of the APD. Further research on the combination of the three circuits will produce a more compact APD-based solution for a wide range of applications.

Parallel implementation of the recurrence method for computing the power-spectral density of thin avalanche photodiodes

A simulation program has been developed to calculate the power-spectral density of thin avalanche photodiodes, which are used in optical networks. The program extends the time-domain analysis of the dead-space multiplication model to compute the autocorrelation function of the APD impulse response. However, the computation requires a large amount of memory space and is very time consuming. We describe our experiences in parallelizing the code using both MPI and OpenMP. Several array partitioning schemes and scheduling policies are implemented and tested Our results show that the OpenMP code is scalable up to 64 processors on an SGI Origin 2000 machine and has small average errors.

Parallel bandwidth characteristics calculations for thin avalanche photodiodes on a SGI Origin 2000 supercomputer

An important factor for high-speed optical communication is the availability of ultrafast and low-noise photodetectors. Among the semiconductor photodetectors that are commonly used in today’s long-haul and metro-area fiber-optic systems, avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are often preferred over p-i-n photodiodes due to their internal gain, which significantly improves the receiver sensitivity and alleviates the need for optical pre-amplification. Unfortunately, the random nature of the very process of carrier impact ionization, which generates the gain, is inherently noisy and results in fluctuations not only in the gain but also in the time response. Recently, a theory characterizing the autocorrelation function of APDs has been developed by us which incorporates the dead-space effect, an effect that is very significant in thin, high-performance APDs. The research extends the time-domain analysis of the dead-space multiplication model to compute the autocorrelation function of the APD impulse response. However, the computation requires a large amount of memory space and is very time consuming. In this research, we describe our experiences in parallelizing the code in MPI and OpenMP using CAPTools. Several array partitioning schemes and scheduling policies are implemented and tested. Our results show that the code is scalable up to 64 processors on a SGI Origin 2000 machine and has small average errors.

A Planar InGaAs/InP Geiger Mode Avalanche Photodiode with Cascade Edge Breakdown Suppression

A Geiger mode planar InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode （APD） with a cascade peripheral junction structure to suppress edge breakdowns is designed by finite-element analysis. The photodiode breakdown voltage is reduced to 54.3V by controlling the central junction depth, while the electric field distribution along the device central axis is controlled by adjusting doping level and thickness of the lnP field control layer. Using a cascade junction structure at the periphery of the active area, premature edge breakdowns are effectively suppressed. The simulations show that the quadra-cascade structure is a good trade-off between suppression performance and fabrication complexity, with a reduced peak electric field of 5.2 × 10~5 kV/cm and a maximum hole ionization integral of 1. 201. Work presented in this paper provides an effective way to design high performance photon counting InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiodes.

A New Method to Investigate InGaAsP Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes Using a Digital Sampling Oscilloscope

A near-infrared single-photon detection system is established by using pigtailed InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiodes. With a 50GHz digital sampling oscilloscope, the function and process of gated-mode (Geiger-mode) single-photon detection are intuitionally demonstrated for the first time. The performance of the detector as a gated-mode single-photon counter at wavelengths of 1310 and 1550nm is investigated. At the operation temperature of 203K,a quantum efficiency of 52% with a dark count probability per gate of 2. 4 * 10~(-3), and a gate pulse repetition rate of 50kHz are obtained at 1550nm. The corresponding parameters are 43% , 8. 5 * 10~(-3), and 200kHz at 238K.

Room temperature single-photon detectors for high bit rate quantum key distribution

We report room temperature operation of telecom wavelength single-photon detectors for high bit rate quantum key distribution (QKD). Room temperature operation is achieved using InGaAs avalanche photodiodes integrated with electronics based on the self-differencing technique that increases avalanche discrimination sensitivity. Despite using room temperature detectors, we demonstrate QKD with record secure bit rates over a range of fiber lengths (e.g., 1.26 Mbit/s over 50 km). Furthermore, our results indicate that operating the detectors at room temperature increases the secure bit rate for short distances. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Vertical PIN ultraviolet photodetectors based on 4H-SiC homoepilayers

Vertical PIN ultraviolet photodetectors based on 4H-SiC homoepilayers are presented. The growth of the 4H-SiC homoepilayers was carried out in a LPCVD system. The size of the active area of the photodetector was 300 x 300 mu m(2). The dark and illuminated I-V characteristics were measured at reverse biases from 0 V to 30 V at room temperature. The illuminated current was at least two orders of magnitude higher than the dark current at a bias of below 12 V. The photoresponse was measured from 200 nm to 400 nm at different reverse biases and the peak values of the photo response were located at 3 10 nm. The calculated spectral detectivity D* was shown to be higher than 10(13) cmHz(1/2)/W from 260 to 360 nm with a peak value of 5.9 x 10(13) cmHz(1/2) /W at 310 nm. The peak value of the photoresponse was hundreds of times higher than the response at 400 nm, which showed the device had good visible blind performance. (c) 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Design of a CMOS amplifier for breast cancer detection

A transimpedance amplifier (TIA) is used, in radiation detectors like the positron emission tomography(PET), to transform the current pulse produced by a photo-sensitive device into an output voltage pulse with a desired amplitude and shape. The TIA must have the lowest noise possible to maximize the output. To achieve a low noise, a circuit topology is proposed where an auxiliary path is added to the feedback TIA input, In this auxiliary path a differential transconductance block is used to transform the node voltage in to a current, this current is then converted to a voltage pulse by a second feedback TIA complementary to the first one, with the same amplitude but 180º out of phase with the first feedback TIA. With this circuit the input signal of the TIA appears differential at the output, this is used to try an reduced the circuit noise. The circuit is tested with two different devices, the Avalanche photodiodes (APD) and the Silicon photomultiplier (SIPMs). From the simulations we find that when using s SIPM with Rx=20kΩ and Cx=50fF the signal to noise ratio is increased from 59 when using only one feedback TIA to 68.3 when we use an auxiliary path in conjunction with the feedback TIA. This values where achieved with a total power consumption of 4.82mv. While the signal to noise ratio in the case of the SIPM is increased with some penalty in power consumption.