A Geiger mode APD fabricated in standard 65nm CMOS technology

We present the first avalanche photodiode (APD) successfully fabricated in standard 65nm CMOS technology. The APD operates both in proportional and Geiger mode at -60C to +60C temperature range. The device comprises an octagonal n+p-well junction surrounded by an n-tub guard-ring; its photon detection probability peaks at 450nm with 200mV excess bias and it is above 1% between 350 and 750nm. The dark count rate is 1.5kHz/μm² at 200mV excess bias, while afterpulsing is less than 1% for a dead time longer than 5μs and timing jitter is better than 235ps. Applications include low-power, ultra-high-speed quantum number generators, time-of-flight 3D image sensors, LIDAR detectors, and time-resolved spectroscopy.