Characterization of Al0.8Ga0.2As Geiger photodiodes

X. J. Chen; Min Ren; Yaojia Chen; E. B. Johnson; Joe C. Campbell; James F. Christian

doi:10.1117/12.2188473

24 August 2015 Characterization of Al_0.8Ga_0.2As geiger photodiode

X. J. Chen, Min Ren, Yaojia Chen, E. B. Johnson, Joe C. Campbell, James F. Christian

Proceedings Volume 9601, UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XIX; 96010W (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2188473
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2015, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Solid-state photomultipliers (SSPM) are high gain photodetectors composed of Geiger photodiodes (GPD) operating above device breakdown voltage. In scintillation based radiation detection applications, SSPMs fabricated using silicon (SiPMs, MPPCs, etc) provide a compact, low cost alternative to photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), however, the high dark count rate due to its low band-gap (1.1eV) limits the signal-to-noise performance as the silicon SSPM is scaled to large areas. SSPMs fabricated in materials with a larger band-gap have the potential to surmount the performance limitations experienced by silicon. AlGaAs is a material that provides a bandgap from 1.55eV to 2.13 eV, depending on Al concentration. Using high Al concentration AlGaAs to engineer a wideband- gap (>2eV) SSPM is very desirable in terms of reducing dark noise, which promises better signal-to-noise performances when large detector areas is needed. This work describes the development of Geiger photodiodes (GPDs), the individual elements of a SSPM, fabricated in AlGaAs with 80% Al concentration. We present the design of the GPDs, the fabrication process, along with characterization data of fabricated GPD samples. To the best of our knowledge, we have demonstrated for the first time, a passively quenched Geiger photodiode in Al_0.8Ga_0.2As.

Citation Download Citation

X. J. Chen, Min Ren, Yaojia Chen, E. B. Johnson, Joe C. Campbell, and James F. Christian "Characterization of Al_0.8Ga_0.2As geiger photodiode", Proc. SPIE 9601, UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XIX, 96010W (24 August 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2188473

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KEYWORDS

Photodiodes

Diodes

Quantum efficiency

Light emitting diodes

Gallium arsenide

Sensors

Silicon

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