A Backside-Illuminated Charge-Focusing Silicon SPAD With Enhanced Near-Infrared Sensitivity

Abstract

A backside-illuminated (BSI) near-infrared (NIR)-enhanced silicon single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) for time-of-flight (ToF) light detection and ranging applications is presented. The detector contains a 2-mu m-wide multiplication region with a spherically uniform electric field peak enforced by field-line crowding. A charge-focusing electric field extends into a 10-mu m-deep absorption volume, whereby electrons generated in all the corners of the device can move efficiently toward the multiplication region. The SPAD is integrated with a customized 130-nm CMOS technology and a dedicated BSI process. The device has a pitch of 15 mu m, which has the potential to be scaled down without significant performance loss. Furthermore, the detector achieves a photon detection efficiency (PDE) of 27% at 905 nm, with an excess bias of 3.5 V that is controlled by integrated CMOS electronics, and a timing resolution of 240 ps. By virtue of these features, the device architecture is well-suited for large-format ToF imaging arrays with integrated electronics.