Open AccessAvalanche current read‐out circuit for low‐jitter parallel photon timing
Author(s) -
Crotti M.,
Rech I.,
Gulinatti A.,
Ghioni M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
electronics letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.375
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1350-911X
pISSN - 0013-5194
DOI - 10.1049/el.2013.1879
Subject(s) - jitter , single photon avalanche diode , physics , avalanche diode , high impedance , detector , transistor , output impedance , amplifier , computer science , electronic engineering , electrical impedance , avalanche photodiode , optoelectronics , electrical engineering , voltage , optics , cmos , engineering , breakdown voltage
A circuit for single‐photon avalanche diode (SPAD) current read‐out, for photon timing applications, is proposed. The circuit consists of a single‐transistor transimpedance amplifier with a gigahertz bandwidth: the feedback loop fixes the SPAD anode voltage and allows obtaining a high time resolution with a very high equivalent current threshold (almost 700 µA). The transimpedance stage is followed by a lowpass filter that reduces the crosstalk of other on‐chip detectors and makes the designed structure suitable for multi‐detector systems. The presented discrete components prototype achieves a state‐of‐the‐art resolution of 34.4 ps full width at half maximum, has negligible crosstalk between the different pixels and opens the way for the development of an integrated structure with a large number of channels.