Highly sensitive silicon photodetectors with internal discrete amplification

Abstract

A new class of highly sensitive silicon photodetectors is based on the internal discrete amplification mechanism developed by Amplification Technologies, Inc. The key parameters of the novel photodetectors are high speed and ultra low excess noise at high levels of gain. The photodetectors work both * in the photon counting mode and * for analog proportional detection of few-photon light pulses. Performance parameters of these solid-state devices are comparable to those of vacuum PMTs, and even exceed them for some applications. The main parameters of the photodetectors in photon counting mode are the following: * short rise-fall time of one-electron pulse - less than 400 ps * high count speed - up to 500 MHz (in time gating mode) * timing resolution - 200 ps * fine one-electron pulse height distribution due to low (less than 1.05) excess noise factor