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标题：Single photon avalanche detectors: prospects of new quenching and gain mechanisms
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作者：David Hall ; Yu-Hsin Liu ; Yu-Hwa Lo 等
期刊名称：Nanophotonics
印刷版ISSN：2192-8606
电子版ISSN：2192-8614
出版年度：2015
卷号：-1
期号：open-issue
页码：397-412
DOI：10.1515/nanoph-2015-0021
出版社：Walter de Gruyter GmbH
摘要：While silicon single-photon avalanche diodes (SPAD) have reached very high detection efficiency and timing resolution, their use in fibre-optic communications, optical free space communications, and infrared sensing and imaging remains limited. III-V compounds including InGaAs and InP are the prevalent materials for 1550 nm light detection. However, even the most sensitive 1550 nm photoreceivers in optical communication have a sensitivity limit of a few hundred photons. Today, the only viable approach to achieve single-photon sensitivity at 1550 nm wavelength from semiconductor devices is to operate the avalanche detectors in Geiger mode, essentially trading dynamic range and speed for sensitivity. As material properties limit the performance of Ge and III-V detectors, new conceptual insight with regard to novel quenching and gain mechanisms could potentially address the performance limitations of III-V SPADs. Novel designs that utilise internal self-quenching and negative feedback can be used to harness the sensitivity of single-photon detectors,while drastically reducing the device complexity and increasing the level of integration. Incorporation of multiple gain mechanisms, together with self-quenching and built-in negative feedback, into a single device also hold promise for a new type of detector with single-photon sensitivity and large dynamic range.
关键词：Single photon avalanche diodes ; avalanche photodiodes ; photodetectors