Large-area low-noise Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes in standard CMOS

We report a Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) in standard CMOS with a physical implementation that offers high fill factor and very low Dark Count Rate (DCR). The demonstrated suppression of the Dark Count is achieved through alterations made to the structure of the SPAD without any modifications in the fabrication process. The structure of the device consists of a perimeter gated junction with a geometrical profile that is tailored for high gettering efficiency. We previously demonstrated DCR of 20 KHz for a 50 μm diameter perimeter gated circular SPAD (2 orders of magnitude DCR reduction). Using our current design we report DCRs of 10 Hz for a 1200 μm
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SPAD operated at an excess bias of up to 1V. The reported DCRs are obtained for SPADs fabricated in single-well standard CMOS and operated at room temperature.