DocumentCode :
1093875
Title :
A new MOS photon-counting sensor operating in the above-breakdown regime
Author :
Lester, T.P. ; Pulfrey, D.L.
Author_Institution :
Bell-Northern Research, Ltd., Ottawa, Canada
Volume :
31
Issue :
10
fYear :
1984
fDate :
10/1/1984 12:00:00 AM
Firstpage :
1420
Lastpage :
1427
Abstract :
A solid-state optical sensor based on a buried-channel charge-transfer MOS structure and operated at voltages in the above, breakdown regime is proposed. In this mode of operation the MOS photosensor performs as a photon counter with, it is suggested two significant advantages over similar sensors based on p-n junction diodes, namely: self-quenching of the avalanche discharge and possible implementation in the form of a self-scanned CCD array. In this first demonstration of the proposed device, discrete structures in silicon are investigated experimentally. It is demonstrated that internal gains of 3 × 106electrons/photon are possible during operation at about 10 V above breakdown. It is also shown that, after accousting for dark generation and retriggering effects, the photon-induced count rate saturates with increasing bias above breakdown. The results are in excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions from a two-dimensional model and imply that, at 10-15 V above breakdown avalanche initiation probabilities for electrons in excess of 0.9 have been attained.
Keywords :
Breakdown voltage; Counting circuits; Diodes; Electric breakdown; Electrons; Optical sensors; Optoelectronic and photonic sensors; P-n junctions; Sensor arrays; Solid state circuits;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
0018-9383
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/T-ED.1984.21727
Filename :
1484012
Link To Document :
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