Design, Layout, and Testing of Sige APDs Fabricated in a Bicmos Process

This Thesis is concerned with the design, layout, and testing of avalanche photodiodes (APDs). APDs are a type of photodetector and, thus, convert light signals into electrical signals (current or voltage). APDs can be fabricated using silicon (Si). In this Thesis, however, three integrated circuit (IC) chips containing various silicon-germanium (SiGe) APDs with different sizes, structures, and geometries were designed, laid out, and fabricated using the Austriamicrosystems (AMS) 0.35μm SiGe BiCMOS (S35) process. This was done in order to compare SiGe APDs to Si only APDs and investigate the hypothesis that SiGe APDs are capable of detecting longer wavelengths than Si only APDs. This is due to the smaller band gap energy associated with SiGe compared to that of Si. The different SiGe APDs were tested and found to, indeed, have the capability of detecting slightly longer wavelengths than Si APDs. A 5μm x 5μm SiGe APD and 24μm x 24μm SiGe APD were found to have a spectral peak at 500nm and a cutoff wavelength (λc) of 1180nm compared to 480nm and 1100nm, respectively, for a 10μm x 10μm Si APD. The 24μm x 24μm SiGe APD was also found to have a responsivity of 0.34 A/W at 500nm and quantum efficiency (QE) of 85% at 450nm. APDs differ from traditional photodiodes in that they possess an internal avalanche gain and, thus, produce a larger electrical signal than a traditional photodiode for the same amount of incident light. All photodiodes produce an undesired electrical signal, called dark current, even in a dark state with no light signal incident on the photodiode. Therefore, the gain and dark current associated with each of the fabricated APDs was also measured in order to determine the characteristics of the different SiGe APD variants. The 5μm x 5μm and 24μm x 24μm SiGe APDs have a zero bias (0V) dark current of 3pA and 5pA, respectively, compared to 3pA for the 10μm x 10μm Si APD. The 5μm x 5μm and 24μm x 24μm SiGe APDs and the 10μm x 10μm Si APD also have gains of 88,000 (98dB), 1390 (63dB), and 1000 (60dB), respectively

Front-End CMOS Transimpedance Amplifiers on a Silicon Photomultiplier Resistant to Fast Neutron Fluence

Radiation hard electronics are indispensable in providing reliable diagnostics in fast radiation detection, which are necessary for new fundamental science research. In the case of radiation detection, transimpedance amplifiers are needed to magnify low photodetector signals to readable levels reliably. This thesis investigates a way to design a transimpedance CMOS-front-end transimpedance amplifier (TIA) as a first stage front-end amplifier. The TIA is to be mounted on silicon photomultiplier (SiPM), as a photodetector in fast neutron scintillation experiments capable of sustaining up to 10^15 n/cm of fast neutrons in the range of 0.1 to 20 MeV. The proposed TIA was designed using ON\u27s C5 process (a 600 nm CMOS process). It has a 300 kΩ gain, a bandwidth minimum of 250 MHz, noise below 5 pA/√Hz, an output swing of 1.5–2 V, and a power consumption less than 25 mW. The TIA is expected to sustain reliable performance

Application of avalanche photodiodes as a readout for scintillator tile-fiber systems

The application of reach-through avalanche photodiodes (R'APD) as a photodetector for scintillator tiles has been investigated. The light collected by WLS fibers (0.84mm and 1mm diameter) embedded in the scintillator has been transmited to the 0.5mm2 active surface of APD by clear optical fibers and optical connectors. A low noise charge sensitive preamplifier (approximately 400 electrons equivalent noise charge) has been used to gain the photodiode signal. Various configurations of tile-fibre systems, suitable for CMS and LHCb experiments at LHC have been studied using cosmic muons and muon beam at SPS at CERN. In order to optimize the performance of APD, measurments in the temperature range from -10C to +25C have been done. The MIP detection efficiency and electron/MIP separation have been estimated in order to determine applicability of the readout for LHCb preshower.Comment: 20 pages,13 figure

Development of Silicon PhotoMultipliers at FBK-irst

We report on the development of Silicon PhotoMultipliers (SiPM) at the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK)-irst (Trento, Italy) in the framework of a collaboration with INFN. Device geometry and technology are resumed, and selected results from the characterization of SiPM prototypes from three production batches are reported, including static, dynamic, and noise properties, as well as photodetection efficiency

Investigation of epitaxial lift-off GaAs and langmuir-blodgett films for optoelectronic device applications

Epitaxial lift-off (ELO), a technique of removing an epitaxially grown GaAs layer from its growth substrate by selective etching of an AlAs sacrificial layer, is described for field-effect transistor fabrication independent of the GaAs growth substrate. Metal Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors (MESFETs) and High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) fabricated on silicon and sapphire substrates using ELO are investigated. A 0.1 μm gate length depletion mode MESFET made on silicon exhibited a unity current gain frequency ft = 34 GHz. Excellent device isolation with subpicoampere leakage currents is obtained. A high input impedance amplifier has been implemented on silicon substrate using ELO GaAs MESFETs. The amplifier had an input RC time constant limited bandwidth of 500 MHz. Results of investigation of a novel source of cadmium and zinc diffusion for shallow p+-n junction fabrication in In0.53Ga0.47As/InP are also presented. Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) deposited monolayers of Cadmium and Zinc arachidate have been used as a source of Cd and Zn dopants in InGaAs/InP. This new source provides precise control of the dopant dose through the number of LB film monolayers deposited and it is also a safer method of handling toxic Cd. The LB film can be patterned by lift-off for a patterned diffusion without a mask. Highly doped (Na= 2 -4 x 1019 cm-3 ), shallow (0.1-0.4 μm) p+-n junctions have been obtained. Junction field-effect transistors(JFETs) and PIN photodetectors have been fabricated as a demonstration of the usefulness of the technique. A PIN photodetector had a 100 pA dark current at -5 V DC bias and a bandwidth of 2 GHz. A new technique for fabricating optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) photoreceivers for 1.3-1.55 μm wavelength optical communication has also been proposed. The proposed OEIC uses ELO GaAs MESFETs and InGaAs/InP PIN photodetectors

Modeling and engineering impact ionization in avalanche photodiodes for near and mid infrared applications

Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are the preferred photodetector in many applications in which low light levels need to be detected. The reason why APDs are important in such applications is due to their internal gain, which improves the APD\u27s sensitivity. Compared to receivers based on PIN photodiodes, which do not present internal gain, APD-based receivers achieve 5-10 dB improved sensitivity. The origin of the APD\u27s internal gain is the impact ionization process. However, due to the stochastic nature of the impact ionization process the multiplication gain comes at the expense of extra noise. This multiplication noise is called the excess noise, and it is a measure of the gain uncertainty. In addition, as the multiplication gain increases the buildup time, which is the time required for all the impact ionizations to complete, also increases. Thus, for a given multiplication gain the buildup time limits the bandwidth of the APD. The main challenge for state-of-the-art APDs, operating in linear and Geiger modes, is to achieve higher operating speeds. For application in which the APD is operated in linear mode the limited speed of APD-based receivers have limited their use in systems that operate at 2.5 and 10 Gbps. However, to meet the demand of the exponential growth in data transfer, the telecommunication industry has been moving toward 40-Gbps and 100-Gbps protocols for their core fiber-optic backbone networks alongside the existing 10-Gbps infrastructure operating at the low-loss wavelength of 1.55 microns. Moreover, the fast progress on quantum communications requires Geiger-mode APDs to operate at higher repetition rates. Currently, Geiger-mode APDs are limited to operate at detection rates of about 20 MHz. In addition, there has been relatively little work on infrared APDs, although there are many applications in remote sensing, medical imaging, and environmental monitoring. In particular, there is no GaAs-based APD operating in Geiger mode beyond 2 microns. This dissertation provides theoretical analysis and experimental exploration of APDs working in linear and Geiger modes in the near infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) ranges of wavelength. This research effort is geared to address the aforementioned current challenges of the state-of-the-art APD technology. In the theoretical part of this work the focus is on the development of new theoretical methods that allow us to model, understand, and characterize avalanche photodiodes working in linear and Geiger modes. The objective is that the developed methods help the design and optimization of high performance, high speed APDs. The experimental part of this research effort consists of the design, fabrication and characterization of a novel mid-infrared sensor, based on GaAs technology, called the quantum-dot avalanche photodiode (QDAP). The main motivation for the QDAP is to exploit its potential of working in Geiger mode regime, which can be utilized for single-photon detection. In addition, the QDAP represents the first GaAs-based APD operating in the mid infrared range of wavelength

An Acoustic Charge Transport Imager for High Definition Television Applications: Reliability Modeling and Parametric Yield Prediction of GaAs Multiple Quantum Well Avalanche Photodiodes

Reliability modeling and parametric yield prediction of GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well (MQW) avalanche photodiodes (APDs), which are of interest as an ultra-low noise image capture mechanism for high definition systems, have been investigated. First, the effect of various doping methods on the reliability of GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well (MQW) avalanche photodiode (APD) structures fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy is investigated. Reliability is examined by accelerated life tests by monitoring dark current and breakdown voltage. Median device lifetime and the activation energy of the degradation mechanism are computed for undoped, doped-barrier, and doped-well APD structures. Lifetimes for each device structure are examined via a statistically designed experiment. Analysis of variance shows that dark-current is affected primarily by device diameter, temperature and stressing time, and breakdown voltage depends on the diameter, stressing time and APD type. It is concluded that the undoped APD has the highest reliability, followed by the doped well and doped barrier devices, respectively. To determine the source of the degradation mechanism for each device structure, failure analysis using the electron-beam induced current method is performed. This analysis reveals some degree of device degradation caused by ionic impurities in the passivation layer, and energy-dispersive spectrometry subsequently verified the presence of ionic sodium as the primary contaminant. However, since all device structures are similarly passivated, sodium contamination alone does not account for the observed variation between the differently doped APDs. This effect is explained by the dopant migration during stressing, which is verified by free carrier concentration measurements using the capacitance-voltage technique