Dynamic-quenching of a single-photon avalanche photodetector using an adaptive resistive switch.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35314686.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-29195-7 and PMC identifier 8938474.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
One of the most common approaches for quenching single-photon avalanche diodes is to use a passive resistor in series with it. A drawback of this approach has been the limited recovery speed of the single-photon avalanche diodes. High resistance is needed to quench the avalanche, leading to slower recharging of the single-photon avalanche diodes depletion capacitor. We address this issue by replacing a fixed quenching resistor with a bias-dependent adaptive resistive switch. Reversible generation of metallic conduction enables switching between low and high resistance states under unipolar bias. As an example, using a Pt/Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>/Ag resistor with a commercial silicon single-photon avalanche diodes, we demonstrate avalanche pulse widths as small as ~30 ns, 10× smaller than a passively quenched approach, thus significantly improving the single-photon avalanche diodes frequency response. The experimental results are consistent with a model where the adaptive resistor dynamically changes its resistance during discharging and recharging the single-photon avalanche diodes.