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Monolithic Perimeter Gated Single Photon Avalanche Diode Based Optical Detector In Standard Cmos, Md. Habib Ullah Habib

Doctoral Dissertations

Since the 1930's photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) have been used in single photon detection. Single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) are p-n junctions operated in the Geiger mode. Unlike PMTs, CMOS based SPADs are smaller in size, insensitive to magnetic fields, less expensive, less temperature dependent, and have lower bias voltages. Using appropriate readout circuitry, they measure properties of single photons, such as energy, arrival time, and spatial path making them excellent candidates for single photon detection. CMOS SPADs suffer from premature breakdown due to the non-uniform distribution of the electric field. This prevents full volumetric breakdown of the device and reduces …