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arXiv · 2203.01560

A Backside-Illuminated Charge-Focusing Silicon SPAD with Enhanced Near-Infrared Sensitivity

Edward Van Sieleghem·Gauri Karve·Koen De Munck·Andrea Vinci·Celso Cavaco·Andreas Süss·Chris Van Hoof·Jiwon Lee
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Abstract

A backside-illuminated (BSI) near-infrared enhanced silicon single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) for time-of-flight (ToF) light detection and ranging applications is presented. The detector contains a 2 $μ$m wide multiplication region with a spherically-uniform electric field peak enforced by field-line crowding. A charge-focusing electric field extends into a 10 $μ$m deep absorption volume, whereby electrons generated in all corners of the device can move efficiently towards the multiplication region. The SPAD is integrated with a customized 130 nm CMOS technology and a dedicated BSI process. The device has a pitch of 15 $μ$m, which has the potential to be scaled down without significant performance loss. Furthermore, the detector achieves a photon detection efficiency of 27% at 905 nm, with an excess bias of 3.5 V that is controlled by integrated CMOS electronics, and a timing resolution of 240 ps. By virtue of these features, the device architecture is well-suited for large format ToF imaging arrays with integrated electronics.

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Edward Van Sieleghem, Gauri Karve, Koen De Munck, Andrea Vinci, Celso Cavaco, Andreas Süss, Chris Van Hoof, Jiwon Lee. 2022-03-03. A Backside-Illuminated Charge-Focusing Silicon SPAD with Enhanced Near-Infrared Sensitivity. https://doi.org/10.1109/ted.2022.3143487

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