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Publications in Scientific Journals:

S. S. Kohneh Poushi, H. Mahmoudi, M. Hofbauer, B. Steindl, K. Schneider-Hornstein, H. Zimmermann:
"Experimental and simulation study of fill-factor enhancement using a virtual guard ring in n+∕p-well CMOS single-photon avalanche diodes";
Optical Engineering, Vol. 60 (2021), No. 6; 11 pages.



English abstract:
The use of a physical guard ring in CMOS single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs)based on n+/(deep)p-well and p+/(deep)n-well structures is a common solution to control the electric field of the SPADs periphery and prevent the premature lateral breakdown. However, this leads to a decrease of the detection efficiency, i.e., the fill-factor, especially when the SPADs size is reduced. Our paper presents an experimental and simulation study on replacing the physical guard ring by a virtual guard ring to improve the fill-factor and the scalability of a n+∕p-well SPAD implemented in 0.35-μm pin-photodiode CMOS technology. Accordingly, the optimization of the virtual guard ring and its superiority at downscaling are discussed, and the SPAD scalability in size with respect to the fill-factor is quantified in this technology.

Keywords:
single-photon avalanche diode; virtual guard ring; scalability; fill-factor.


"Official" electronic version of the publication (accessed through its Digital Object Identifier - DOI)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.60.6.067105


Created from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.