A Full CMOS Quenching Circuit With Fuse Protection for InGaAs/InP Single Photon Detectors

This brief presents a new quenching circuit with a metal fuse that aims to protect readout integrated circuit (ROIC) from breakdown due to unexpectedly high voltage from Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode (GmAPD) arrays. Fuse resistances in states of pre-burnout and post-burnout are investigated to satisfy requirements of rapid quenching and high voltage protection, respectively. Several fuse options using commercial mixed-signal CMOS processes, such as metal and polysilicon, are compared in detail. Meander metal fuse is the most suitable candidate according to measurement results. A rapidly quenching circuit integrated with metal fuse is developed using a 0.18 $\mu \text{m}$ CMOS process. After being bonding with GmAPDs and resistors, test results show that this circuit could endure a high voltage of 75 V, demonstrating that this innovative design can contribute in a low-cost and high-reliable way to high-yield large-format GmAPD arrays.