Afterpulsing Characteristics of Free-Running and Time-Gated Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes in 130-nm CMOS

Abstract

The temperature-dependent afterpulsing characteristics of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) fabricated in a standard digital 130-nm CMOS technology are described. Avalanche interarrival time statistics are analyzed to obtain the afterpulsing probabilities (APs) for 81and 110-μm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> active area SPAD pixels using free running (FR) and time-gated (TG) front-end circuits. A strong reduction in AP was evident in the TG mode compared with the FR SPAD pixels. Optimal operating conditions in terms of hold-off time and temperature were found for <;1% AP.