Sensors (Nov 2023)

A 3.06 μm Single-Photon Avalanche Diode Pixel with Embedded Metal Contact and Power Grid on Deep Trench Pixel Isolation for High-Resolution Photon Counting

  • Jun Ogi,
  • Fumiaki Sano,
  • Tatsuya Nakata,
  • Yoshiki Kubo,
  • Wataru Onishi,
  • Charith Koswaththage,
  • Takeya Mochizuki,
  • Yoshiaki Tashiro,
  • Kazuki Hizu,
  • Takafumi Takatsuka,
  • Iori Watanabe,
  • Fumihiko Koga,
  • Tomoyuki Hirano,
  • Yusuke Oike

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/s23218906
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 21
p. 8906

Abstract

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In this study, a 3.06 μm pitch single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) pixel with an embedded metal contact and power grid on two-step deep trench isolation in the pixel is presented. The embedded metal contact can suppress edge breakdown and reduce the dark count rate to 15.8 cps with the optimized potential design. The embedded metal for the contact is also used as an optical shield and a low crosstalk probability of 0.4% is achieved, while the photon detection efficiency is as high as 57%. In addition, the integration of a power grid and the polysilicon resistor on SPAD pixels can help to reduce the voltage drop in anode power supply and reduce the power consumption with SPAD multiplication, respectively, in a large SPAD pixel array for a high-resolution photon-counting image sensor.

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