Abstract
Understanding radiation effects on avalanche photodiodes (APDs) is important because they are used in several applications involving harsh radiation environments. APDs are used as photosensors in applications where speed and detection efficiency are critical. Proton irradiation experiments on a commercial off-the-shelf APD demonstrated that the irradiation flux and applied reverse bias have a strong influence on the severity of radiation effects. This is measured using the ion beam induced charge (IBIC) technique in which charge collection efficiency (CCE) describes the signal response from a device. CCE can degrade substantially due to radiation damage, but recent measurements show that certain combinations of irradiation flux and reverse bias can lead to increases in CCE up to 186% ± 24% for irradiations with 2 MeV protons at a fluence of $6.4\times 10^{11}$ cm-2. This defect-enhanced charge multiplication (DECM) only appeared when the reverse bias during irradiation ranged from 170 to 1830 V out of a maximum operating bias of 2000 V and the proton flux ranged from $9.8\times 10^{7}$ to $3.4\times 10^{9}$ cm-2s-1. Values outside of either range led to losses in CCE. It is expected that DECM should be encountered in other devices, especially those with sufficiently high electric fields to cause impact ionization.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 152-159 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science |
Volume | 69 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 1 2022 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This research was performed under appointment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation International Safeguards Fellowship Program sponsored by the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of International Nuclear Safeguards (NA-241). This research had been partially supported and conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Nuclear Science and Instrumentation Laboratory (NSIL) – Physics Section.
Funders | Funder number |
---|---|
National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of International Nuclear Safeguards | NA-241 |
U.S. Department of Energy | |
International Atomic Energy Agency |
Keywords
- Avalanche photodiode (APD)
- displacement damage
- ion beam induced charge (IBIC) technique