Design, Characterization and Analysis of a 0.35 μm CMOS SPAD

Khalil Jradi (1) , Denis Pellion (1) , Dominique Ginhac (1)

1 Le2i - Laboratoire Electronique, Informatique et Image [UMR6306]

Most of the works about single-photon detectors rely on Single PhotonAvalanche Diodes (SPADs) designed with dedicated technological processes in order toachieve single-photon sensitivity and excellent timing resolution. Instead, this paperfocuses on the implementation of high-performance SPADs detectors manufactured in astandard 0.35-micron opto-CMOS technology provided by AMS. We propose a series oflow-noise SPADs designed with a variable pitch from 20 μm down to 5 μm. This opens thefurther way to the integration of large arrays of optimized SPAD pixels with pitch of a fewmicrometers in order to provide high-resolution single-photon imagers. We experimentallydemonstrate that a 20-micron SPAD appears as the most relevant detector in terms ofSignal-to-Noise ratio, enabling emergence of large arrays of SPAD.

Mots clés: integrated optoelectronic circuits; photodetectors; avalanche photodiodes (APDs); optoelectronics; photonic integrated circuit

Domaines: Electronique; Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]

Khalil Jradi, Denis Pellion, Dominique Ginhac. Design, Characterization and Analysis of a 0.35 μm CMOS SPAD. Sensors, 2014, 14 (2), pp.22773-22784. ⟨10.3390/s141222773⟩. ⟨hal-01093006⟩