Novel geometry photon counting silicon avalanche photodiodes

The paper reports on the development and characterisation of silicon shallow junction avalanche photodiodes (APDs) operating in Geiger-mode at low breakdown voltages (/spl sim/30 V). The devices are manufactured with CMOS compatible techniques creating the potential for cost effective manufacturing and integrated circuitry. In experiments, these detectors have shown internal quantum efficiencies approaching 80% and typical timing jitters of 270 ps (the lowest observed being 210 ps). Measurements were performed on randomly selected devices.