Resonant-cavity-enhanced single photon avalanche diodes on double silicon- on-insulator substrates

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. We report the first resonant-cavity-enhanced single photon avalanche diode (RCE SPAD) fabricated on a reflecting silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. The substrate incorporates a two period distributed Bragg reflector fabricated using a commercially available double SOI process. The RCE SPAD detectors have peak photon detection efficiencies ranging from 42% at 780 nm to 34% at 850 nm and an excellent photon timing resolution of 35 ps full width at half maximum. Despite the higher defectivity of double SOI substrates compared to standard silicon substrates, RCE SPADs with 20 mm diameter exhibit a fairly low dark count rate (DCR) of 3500 cs À1 at room temperature and a yield of 80%. A DCR less than 50 cs À1 can be attained with these detectors by reducing the temperature down to À15 C, while keeping the total afterpulsing probability below 9% with a dead-time of 80 ns. 1. Introduction There is nowadays a widespread and steadily growing interest in single photon detectors, driven by the need for ultimate sensitivity in various scientific and industrial applications such as fluorescence spectroscopy in life and material sciences, quantum cryptography and computing, time-of-flight ranging and imaging, particle sizing etc. In the last four decades, single photon counting (SPC) and time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) techniques have been developed relying on photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), that is, vacuum tube detectors with high internal gain. PMTs offer wide sensitive area ($cm 2) and they also attain picosecond time resolution with micro-channel plate (MCP) models [1]. However, due to the intrinsic limits of the photocathodes they have moderate or low photon detection efficiency (PDE), particularly in the red and near-infrared spectral range. The PDE of conventional bialkali and multialkali photocathodes reaches 20–25% between 400 and 500 nm [1]. …